All Elite Wrestling (AEW)

[8.0] "At the beginning of their 5th year of existence, it's hard not to describe AEW as a resounding success. This company has been defined by 2 things: excellent in-ring wrestling, and wrestler lead presentation. It's been fantastic to see wrestlers in the USA given the agency to succeed or fail on their own terms for the first time in a very long time. And failure is a key here. The company has generally done a great job of pivoting when the audience has rejected, or embraced for that matter, an angle, a wrestler, or a story. A key standout that increases the overall score for me is the commitment to PPV quality. If you pay for a show, you know that you are going to get wall to wall top quality wrestling. My interest in the stories goes into my decision to purchase the show. I appreciate a company not ruining the matches on the paid show to further stories that will take place on free TV."

"The hypothetical AEW wrestling show lineup presented boasts an array of top-tier matches featuring some of the most talented and renowned wrestlers in the industry. From high-stakes singles bouts to captivating tag team showcases and intense championship matches, this lineup offers something for every wrestling fan. With the potential for 5-star and over 5-star performances throughout the card, it exemplifies the best of what AEW has to offer in terms of athleticism, storytelling, and entertainment. This lineup could easily be hailed as one of the best wrestling shows of the current era, delivering a memorable and exhilarating experience for fans worldwide."

[3.0] ""The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." If you wanna be the alternative to sports entertainment, you cannot produce sports entertainment. Granted, it is an edgier version of it, but still nowhere near a serious sports presentation. I am mad at AEW specifically for not being able to be the alternative, after months of bragging about how rich and smart they were, and how many good wrestlers they had... They handed all of the buzz and interest to their rivals. There's really too many problems in the company to enumerate all of them, but a couple of fundamental ones make the product barely watchable. First of all, I understand kayfabe's dead, but that is not an excuse to write shitty, tongue-in-cheek storylines, that have no semblance or realism (or drama, or genuine comedy) or have none at all and set up random no DQ matches. I can count AEW memorable storylines on the fingers of one hand (and they mostly involve people who aren't even there anymore). Secondly, WORKRATE IS NOT ABOUT MOVES. And I say this as somebody who watches wrestling matches mainly looking for high level workrate, that is storytelling and psychology, I believe the vision of a "great match" that AEW has is just delusional, and brings forth nothing but copy and paste matches, with personalities noone will remember and even less memorable spots, while also being needlessly reckless. I mean the fact that some of AEW's "biggest stars" are literally one-trick ponies is quite telling: I think of Daniel Garcia's negative charisma cringey dance, of Orange Cassidy's silly shin kicks that were never funny to begin with (imagine after seeing them every week), of the Young Bucks' insufferable personas that have taken the concept of go away heat to a whole nother level. Moreover, this obession with dream matches with no build whatsoever make it so that no match is a real dream match in the end. There's so much more that should be said, from TK's inability to realize how inadequate and unexperienced he is as a booker and his refusal to put qualified people in charge, to much of the roster's refusal to listen to advice and adapt to a more consistent, less indierific style, to the ridiculous amount of useless belts nobody cares about, but unfortunately nobody's paying me to shit on this company. I root for AEW, I genuinely do, I am tired of the silly sports entertainment that the others have shoved down everybody's throat for decades, and AEW has shown that they CAN produce good wrestling if they want to (which makes their whole pointless programming even more infuriating) but right now the product overall just sucks.  And it's sad for the MJFs, the FTRs, the Jay White's, the Samoa Joe's, the Eddie Kingston's of this world, and I could go on because they do have a stacked roster with tons of talent, they just have no idea how to use it in a coherent and consistent way."

[4.0] "I'd say the company overall is "adequate" as the name of a 4 out of 10 rating is. I've tried to watch it, but I never would watch it for the company, but simply for the talent they have. They try so hard to be the "cool" dad of the wrestling world. "Look guys! We have Jon Moxley, and Bryan Danielson! ArE yOu NoT eNtErTaInEd? " Calm down, the whole roster is a massive, and I mean massive, mixed bag. The 4 is for the superstars I enjoy watching and the fact that it gives the massive wrestling world a place for the wrestlers to get some TV time. I'll continue to give it a chance but for now, I'm not a huge fan."

[10.0] "Trying to rate an entire promotion is nuts because you have to look at the past and the things the promotion has achieved as a a whole and you also have to look forward and ask if the promotion can project itself into the future. As for the past. AEW will be considered historical in wrestling for changing the American PW landscape. From the early moments of Mox's debut to the recent Sting retirement matches - AEW has delivered a rock solid reason to watch TV on a Wednesday (and Saturday) night. While some people complain - I think the company gets FAR more hate than it deserves. Tony Kahn has opened up a huge network of wrestling in America which actually has caused other companies to take serious notice. AEW over the years has become a fusion of some of THE best guys in the business. Business has stabilized but AEW has started major traditions like Wembley and Arthur Ashe. While AEW deals with major social media backlash still from last years All In and other events, Tony Kahn continues to deliver a great week by week product with new surprises again and again (Who guessed Samoa Joe would be AEW KING). As far as the future goes, this is ridiculous my boy. We are talking about Ospreay and Okada and Mone and Takeshita and Cole and SWERVE and Hangman and Darby and Omega and Mox and yeah the list goes on. This is probably the best wrestling roster ever. So that's me in '24 and I give them a 10 for completely mindshifting the entire pro wrestling landscape. If I come back in 10 years and everything goes bad I'll change me rating."

[5.0] "AEW used to be a world class wrestling company but now it's sinking downhill a lot more faster than WCW did in 1998 to 2001 as Tony Khan announces the lineups of his shows way too much before they go on air Live and he's too delusional now to look at where he's going wrong and how he could improve his own product. For me the issues with the company aren't the talent, it's mainly Tony Khan putting his head in the sand and not caring about his own fans like he used too when AEW started. Tony Khan puts on shows extremely frequently in bigger venues which don't even sell out these days and have shocking attendances, while viewers and ratings are dropping each week because of his own questionable bookings and decisions that's already dampening the reputation of himself, his talent and most importantly AEW. The women's division of AEW needs a gigantic improvement as it's never been taken seriously enough from the offset. If he wants AEW's ratings on CageMatch to improve then Tony needs to look seriously in the mirror as if he doesn't, his company will keep declining as AEW used to be a 10/10 and I was watching the shows every week while looking forward to PPVs. I don't even feel that same buzz and excitement anymore because of Tony Khan's questionable bookings and decisions"

[8.0] "I believe this promotion has rejuvenated the business in a lot of ways, they have a great roster, good matches and amazing ppvs. However, they do make some questionable bookings that can damage the company's reputation and credibility along with the backstage and twitter scandals. All in all, they are such a breath of fresh air specially in north America and their existence can benefit all, particularly the wrestlers and the fans."

[9.0] "What AEW is right now, and what it has been in the past, is almost exclusively what I've always wanted from wrestling. The past few months (September to November '23 to be exact) were absolutely dreadful, but the comeback has been immense from December to now, to the point where I'm actually going to a show of theirs in July."

[8.0] "Giving an 8. My weekly watches are stuff like Stardom, a few indies, and over the past year, TNA. I am not a tribalist fan, like a lot seem to be when it comes to this company, or "the big competition". My consumption of AEW these days is their YouTube clips, Twitter posts, and the occasional PPV if I am interested in the match card. Which directly lines up with my problem with this company and my rating. Most of the "stories" do not and cannot make me care. Currently Hangman/Swerve has gotten me interested, as well as Joe as champ and Sting's upcoming retirement as of posting. There's quite a bit of overpushing that occurs here, especially on the Women's side. I *adore* women's wrestling. Stardom is a favorite of mine, love the TNA Knockouts Division, and "you know who" has been on fire over the past year with the likes of matches from the big stars like Ripley and Belair, and others in "developmental" like Valkyria, Stratton, Perez, and Vice. But in AEW, why am I constantly having certain talent just constantly on TV in repeated losses when stars like Shida, Rosa, Baker (yes, I like Britt, cry more), and others with proven track records of getting over are not on TV? This goes to the men's and tag and trios divisions as well. Talent are overpushed, or not seen. And the stories don't make *a ton* of sense usually? And certain stuff is really disconnected? I say all those negatives, leading into the good because HOLY GOD, WHEN THEIR MATCHES ARE GOOD, THEY ARE F****** GREAT. Some of my fave matches have happened in AEW, but the booking and TK acting out on Twitter take me out of it quite often. While often being really long and kinda dragging, AEW's PPVs giving you 4 hours of matches for the price isn't a bad value in my mind. But, I get when people say 14 matches on a card is long. It can get wild. The big thing to remember is: everything doesn't have to be in competition with each other, and there can truly be alternatives. And AEW to me is a valid North American alternative that needs to find it's footing, and that spark and shine that was present when the promotion was freshly minted and new."

"AEW is headed in a great direction. I admire that, despite TK having no choice but to at times resort to reusing past talent from other companies, he still makes sure home-grown talent is an emphasis. I can only hope he stays far away from copying concepts from popular examples. If he does, it indicates he's gotten lazy. But where the company is now is great. And they've got the entire world to take over if they want to."

"A promotion that started off with unsustainable buzz and impossible expectations, as well as being dogged by a group of prominent industry talking heads who continue to want it to fail. Despite all the flaws AEW's settled in to a role as a good alternative for older fans with more focus on the wrestling. The weekly shows might lack momentum at times because of random booking, but the PPVs almost always deliver in style. Looking forward to seeing Ospreay joining and where they go with the women's division which looks to be hotting up at last."

[8.0] "They are going forward in good direction. Hope they will focus more on sports based presentation and not on other BS!"

[7.0] "After 5 years of existence as a mainstream American company, we can all say without a shroud of a doubt that AEW rejuvenated that exciting feeling you get around wrestling. And it has been amazing to see this company making its baby steps to become what it is today. But as of the day I'm writing this review and for the past 2 years no less, it has (justifiably) come under scrutiny when it comes to booking and behind-the-scenes drama. But before that, I'd have to give it the amount of credit it deserves. I'm not too deep in wrestling, but I love how I've been using AEW as a gateway to start getting into other wrestling companies outside of North America (NJPW, NOAH, AAA, DDT...), it gives AEW this unpredictable nature that makes the announcement of a Yuji Nagata v. Bryan Danielson more exciting than any PPV build. Speaking of PPV, even with the amount of duds (World's End 2023, half of All Out 2022, All Out 2020) AEW has on its PPV counter, their pacing flows a lot better than their contemporaries, and you're always guaranteed to have two quality matches at the very least. Thirdly, I love the edgy nature, the TV-14 rating for their TV programs allows the talent to explore more mature themes (for example: Christian Cage's "Go f*ck yourself" promo) or sillier jokes (Kenny Omega's Bangkok joke or Big Bill putting Moxley's blood as lipstick) which makes the builds infinitely more interesting and colorful than the restrictive nature of any PG wrestling program. AEW easily has the best tag team division in the world, with The Young Bucks, Lucha Bros and FTR trying each year to dethrone each other for the spot of being the best tag team. With the exception of 2022 and 2023, the sports-based presentation has been wonderful, even if the choice of making rankings don't make all that much sense when there are tournaments and battle royals for a number one contendership, it's easily made up with the quality of the TV matches, which is something that I can say more for the men's division rather than the women's division. And here's where my words will turn sour, the AEW women's division sucks. Not just in terms of booking, but also in terms of in-ring quality. The level of importance given to this division rivals the worst popularity contest you could imagine. As of today, it's a bloody travesty that the division's champion (Toni Storm) has 1000 times more care given to her fantastic character work rather than her in-ring work. I hope AEW can take some pages from the STARDOM notebook. Another complaint with this company can be boiled down to their production, and I don't know how, but these issues become incredibly apparent during the Anarchy in the Arena/Stadium Stampede matches. All these matches have too many instances where the camera cuts sooner or later than a given spot. And my final complaint goes to Tony Khan's booking after he acquired Ring of Honor. Plain simple, he needs to delegate ROH to someone else and continue the sports-based booking of AEW. If nothing, the Continental Classic has been among their best storytelling devices and it should be used as a blueprint for most of the booking. That it, I love AEW, and I hope it keeps succeeding at being the better alternative in mainstream North American wrestling."

[7.0] "As a big fan of AEW since early 2020, I feel like I go back and forth on my feelings on the company quite a bit. On one hand the consistently high-quality wrestling, insanely talented roster, and unforgettable storylines (Hangman/Elite, MJF/Punk, MJF/Cole, Hangman/Swerve, Moxley/Kingston, Elite/BCC to name a few) make me want to give them a 9 or 10 some days. On the other, the awful misuse of talent, mismanagement spilling over into the actual product, constant fumbling of the third act, and nigh on ripping the prestige right out of almost every single belt (remember how great the TNT belt was before Sammy got a hold of it? ) have me barely paying attention through most Wednesday nights over the past year or so when prior to that I couldn't take my eyes of the damn TV for a second. It's a shame too, since I really do still enjoy the product overall but don't feel like I can get invested as much with how poorly everything has been handled as of late. Most titles don't mean anything anymore, the women's division is treated like an absolute joke despite having a ton of potential, every match ends EXACTLY as you'd expect, and booking to pop the crowd rather than upset anyone has led to the product starting to feel stale. On top of that, the ADHD booking that comes with every new star has wrecked any ability to get invested in any potential rises to the top of the card. Remember how things looked when Andrade, Malakai, Athena, and Miro first signed with the company? Andrade was set to put on some incredible matches, Malakai showed up with arguably the best debut in the company, Athena looked like the only person capable of ending Jade's TBS reign of terror, and Miro had arguably the best run in the history of the TNT belt, and now where are they? None of them have been on the company's flagship show in months, Andrade jumped ship, Miro has spent his time since dropping the belt in several lackluster feuds, Malakai hasn't been utilized properly since the HoB first won the trios titles, and Athena jobbed out to Jade and hasn't been seen on AEW TV in ages. Original guys aren't even immune to this either: Take a look at where Santana/Ortiz, Spears, Wardlow, and Penta (who should NOT be losing every single high-profile match he's involved in) have ended up. Frustrations aside, for every complaint I have with AEW we get storylines like Orange's International Title run, the continual rise and fall of Hangman, MJF's constantly dynamic development, and Wardlow's warpath towards destroying MJF; shows like All Out '21, Full Gear '21, Forbidden Door, Revolution '23, All Out '23, and WrestleDream; and matches like Hangman vs. Danielson, Orange vs. Moxley, Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros, Page vs. Strickland, MJF vs. Danielson, Anarchy in the Arena 1, or Darby vs. Christian. Overall, I really wish I could rate them higher as the potential is absolutely there (as we saw back in '21) but with the GLARING issues they've been facing lately, even a 7 feels generous. Thankfully the roster is talented enough to carry them through the massive problems they've been having as of late."

"While certainly not perfect, and often frustrating, AEW provides a high-budget and often high-quality alternative to other Western wrestling promotions. As the company continues to grow, it inevitably loses some of the charm it had in the first few years of its existence, but the freedom given to the performers and production team makes for a much rawer feeling than other major wrestling promotions. Simply put, if the other wrestling programs are too polished or not polished enough, AEW may be for you. The promotion has thus far successfully walked the line between revolutionary super-indy and high-budget major blockbuster promotion. While the AEW television product has many faults that their competitors also have, the company's strengths lie within its world-class roster of talent, targeting of an intelligent demographic, and raw feeling not found in other major Western promotions. Currently, it is the best wrestling promotion in the world, with plenty of room to grow, and an opportunity to become the greatest promotion of all-time."

[7.0] "AEW was solid from 2019-2022. Watched their first event, Double or Nothing in 2019, and I think AEW may have been the potential of becoming the American version of NJPW because of it. I just hope that if they keep that momentum like those years, I will give them a 9 for now and if for some few years they manage to hold on to that momentum, it would be a solid 10. When its inception, I was so thrilled that finally we got to have a solid competition in American wrestling after 18 years. No doubt it was a milestone in wrestling history. One of the biggest signings include Jon Moxley, Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, CM Punk and Bryan Danielson and no doubt they helped develop this company. This company even lures lapsed wrestling fan after years of disappointment in the American wrestling show. This promotion, especially its first three years were the most enjoyable and the most entertaining period on its short history. Nowadays, I got mixed feelings with it. With constant new signings, bloated roaster, lack of authority, copying moments and anticlimactic spots. It was even worse when toxic die-hard fanatics were developed and bringing tribalism to the wrestling community. Another huge problem is the poor management of handling real incident backstage. Since the AEW All Out 2022 media scrum incident, AEW has been exposed as just another political tripping company and the company that couldn't handle real-heat situations. Also, the way of presenting their women's wrestlers is underwhelming. But still, their matches are quite good and very entertaining to watch. I just hope AEW would catch-up, as I have more faith on improving their product than the other big company in the US. But despite my criticisms, AEW is still the best wrestling promotion in USA. If you want your friends to introduce them to pro-wrestling, recommend them by watching AEW."

[2.0] "[1.00/5.00]: It's just so heinously sad at this point that what once was a respected alternative turned into the very thing they despised to be. AEW between 2019-2022 (up until Brawl Out) was must-see Television with no misses in their specials and consistent booking, AEW had the right to be earned as the best wrestling promotion in not only in America, but perhaps of the World, but now it's just a shell of its former self. I guess most of this is not what I care for anymore, I'm sure people who still watch it are still into it, but it's not for me anymore. Inconsistent booking of their wrestlers, having 0 character arcs for them to overcome, overreliance and burying of titles by overexposing them and Tony Khan's insufferable personality mixed in with some of the worst wrestling I have ever been subjected to. Kicking out of devastating finishers at 1, or sometimes not even selling it, Eddie Kingston as a whole, and the entire weekly package is just monotonic in its nature, you get practically the same feud every week, that's just copy/pasting of the previous ones. What once was the top babyface in Hangman Adam Page, is just going in random ever longing feuds with no context going behind it and nothing of value after it except for "oh they had that one brilliant bloody match where one stapled his man tits and the other drank his blood before spitting it out." Great match though but that's what AEW is just reduced to now, being a spectacle for one night and just ignoring everything else that makes wrestling great rest of the year because they don't make me or several of us care about the product. What I'm basically trying to get here is that AEW is the equivalent of a fast food chain, has everything that appeals to a less attention span individual, make everything to the likes of the consumer without putting much heart into it and then provide it in the greasiest looking bag lacking any presentation quality. It does have several room to improve, having multitudes of great talent at their disposal, but sadly that's not the case for quite some time now."

"AEW is a company with many ups and downs, from match quality to roster they are fantastic. however due to management issues, repeating disappointing patterns, and at times very questionable booking decisions AEW can be polarizing. Even with that AEW can put on great shows albeit with noticeable flaws."

"[8.0] Thanks to AEW in 2020 I back watch pro wrestling cause of them so many beautiful storyline and match happened of course it's not perfect sometimes they do bad angle and match but that's wrestling it's normal. Also in 2024 I can see they're put more effort and focus on women division they got solid women on their promotion people like Deonna Purrazzo, Hikaru Shida, Serena deeb, etc is gonna bring some banger match.. Also I hope this year they need improving their tag team and trio division overall AEW always bring me joy whenever I watch Wrestling"

[9.0] "Let me make one thing clear, I am basing this off of sheer match quality. I should make that clear. Not events, not backstage drama, not the wrestlers and not Tony Khan. The only thing I will say is there PPV Build up sucks and storylines are non existent. After watching 51 AEW Matches I have come to the consensus. This is an okay promotion. The matches are good but some aren't as god tier as their made out to be. They get really good crowds for every week usually full of really great fans. Every match I've seen is just wrestling at its finest (if it is actual wrestling.) Good stuff. Now the bad that I observed. They suffer from a lot of things that there fanbase claims they don't have or what they wish you wouldn't look into. For example, they marked themselves as a real sport however I notice that in some cases there are hardly any rules. Wrestlers are free to wander around the outside of the ring freely when no such stipulation has been added that would allow them to do so without being counted out. The refs seem to let that slide. It's a lot like ECW refs if you know what I mean. No rules which is okay but ECW made it clear there were no rules. I would also like to say that it prides itself on not being sports entertainment and actual pro wrestling. It's fans (this is the last time I bring them up, this is not meant to be a hit piece) pride themselves on the idea that this has zero sports entertainment. Through my observations this is baselessly untrue. This is in the debate for having the same if not more sports entertainment then AEW. Some of the matches can be really overbooked and have way too many false finishes, so the same issues Black and Gold NXT had. They also it feels like overuse those tropes a lot and have a lot of heavy theatrics. Some things are there that I wouldn't call wrestling but that's subjective all I'll say. Every match kinda feels the same at points. Start, Action, Slow Pace, Action, Slow Pace, Spots, False Finish A, Spots, Interference (optional), False Finish B, Action, Drama, Climax, Finish. It's all very formulaic. And you know I feel like they are just as sports entertainment as WWE when it comes to in ring. They do overuse gimmick matches it feels to me. Texas Death Matches, Tornado Tags you know. ESPICALLY when it comes to TDM but I digress I could just be looking at it wrong or something. I feel like it half the stuff they market themselves around is appealing but when you actually watch and see how they're matches are structured, how the promos are done, it's a very WWE-NXT Black and Gold inspired schtick just slightly tweaked. Maybe it's just me. Conclusion: AEW offers something for everyone however despite what it markets itself around, it is very much the same sports entertainment as WWE and suffers from repetitive and some what exhausting matches but in ring wise it delivers on every hit. 8/10 good."

[4.0] "I really liked the initial AEW, having a few big names in the promotion was really refreshing. Their biggest mistake was just signing anybody with a name, especially ones who left WWE under the covid situation. Lots of good wrestlers there, but the promotion stood out the most when it was independent wrestlers with a few big names. The women's division is non-existent, WWE during the diva era featured women more than AEW does, which is really saying something. Doing cross promotion stuff with the likes of NJPW & TNA is fantastic, but AEW has slowly became a second rate WWE. Biggest thing they need to do imo is start doing the little things right. There's no long-term planning (aside from the devil thing, but the pay-off for that made no sense as both MJF & Adam Cole are injured.) Lastly, Tony Khan needs to get off Twitter sooner rather than later. You wouldn't catch Vince McMahon crying about stuff online like Tony does. Needs to stop acting like a mark and actually get a grip of himself and of his promotion."

[10.0] "No AEW and I'm not watching wrestling, there are people in the wrestling world that will try and convince you that AEW is a bad company that has no stories etc, it's all rubbish. AEW is punk rock, it's cool, it's fun, the wrestlers have control of their own creative, it's young and vibrant, WWE is Bon Jovi, AEW is Idles."

[4.0] "AEW's programming as of late 2023 has taken a downturn. What happened to the AEW that I loved with gripping stories, great wrestling and it just felt big and different with the setting, the crowd, the everything. Dynamite is the only show you wanna watch while Rampage is as useless as a piece of shit on the highway and Collision is getting better but still lacks the oomph. Buildup for anything is dogshit and storylines are non-existent. They have old people running around carrying titles and their stages and look all around feels like a carbon copy of the WWE setup but less digitally."

[4.0] "AEW is a sad case of a company that had a lot of potential, but squandered all of it. It's just disappointing. I am thankful they provide good wrestling matches on a regular basis and its hard to be disappointed on that end (even if it's not exactly AJPW 1990s level as some people make it out to be), the problem is that that's where the good comes to and end. Everything else about this company is just a complete disaster, which might make for a more entertaining book than the WCW book, except that Tony makes everyone sign NDAs for everything. They have no idea how to execute angles, and how to make them work (there's many examples I could give but just look at the recent devil reveal, it was bad enough with Cole doing the fake friend when he had MJF down already, and then an over-long blackout so he could get in position), and the booking in general isn't any better. There's a Simpsons quote that can be applied to everything in life, and "So you want a realistic down to earth show, that's completely off the wall, and swarming with magic robots." fits regarding AEW's 'sports based' side and its 'sports entertainment' side, which makes their shows schizophrenic. Tony has managed to squander just about all of his talent who had potential, most of their WWE signings have been blown, Kingston, Swerve is currently the hot guy in the company and I can only hope for best but I have no reason to with Tony's track record. MJF has gone from a guy who could potentially be the biggest draw of anyone in business who isn't over 35, but has become a joke. And it's not even worth talking about CM Punk, everyone knows the story, and everyone has taken their sides, but the whole situation was a disaster that could have been avoided with proper management and now the biggest draw Tony had is in the WWE."

"This is the company that got me back into wrestling after being tuned out for over 20 years. Great matches each and every week."

[8.0] "As of right now, it's not the worst but in comparison to other promotions. It produced some great and solid matches that still hold to this very day. It's just a meh from me. Can produce some great matches with solid booking people can get behind. But other times, it's clunky. Clearly, there are some aspects of the booking they can improve on but rather leave of the "entertainment" of wrestling."

[5.0] "AEW has been kind of hard to watch these past couple of months. And that hurts to say considering I've been a fan since the early pandemic days. Now though it almost feels like the entire company has become stagnant. Like there's no passion anymore. Sure, there are still great matches on pay-per-view and some interesting stories that carried me through Dynamites and Collisions, but besides that there wasn't really anything for me to look forward to or get invested in. The Continental Classic reinvigorated some of my interest, but I just know things will go back to the way they were when it wraps up at World's End. It's hard to stay enthusiastic for shows that often times feel cobbled together at the last second, with several random multi-man tag matches dominating a vast majority of each broadcast. And the stars I *do* enjoy watching are almost never shown on TV, do show on TV but for a squash match, or are permanently stuck in ridiculously long storylines. It's tiring to watch. Maybe I'll pick AEW back up in a couple of months or when something big & important catches my eye, but right now that isn't looking too likely."

[8.0] "They contribute a lot of good matches, but it's very dangerous for the wrestlers, hopefully they can do a better job of protecting the wrestlers, too much hardcore matches aren't great for me."

"AEW is the perfect promotion if you love wrestling shows that have a great mix of pro wrestling, great promo's and entertaining backstage stuff and vignettes. Coupled with great production value. In my opinion, AEW's Collision (8-10pm Saturday nights) set is the best set in pro wrestling. What is AEW best at: Best Promo's Best Matches Best Surprises Best at listening to the fans and giving the fans what they want Best owner More wrestling on each show than other promotions Youngest roster in the industry pushes youth better than other promotions."

[6.0] "AEW is currently at its worst as far as booking is concerned. In previous years, you could argue a 7 or 8 out of 10. Nonetheless, AEW has its ups and downs. If you love workrate and don't care much for stories, then this promotion is great. On the opposite end, the matches can feel heatless for the most part. There are many fantastic wrestlers, yet the roster is bloated to an insane degree that some of them never get pushed. The women's division is also infamously neglected, but discussing it in the confines of AEW is beating a dead horse at this point."

[7.0] "Despite having a lot of flaws, i have a lot of pleasure to watch AEW every week with Dynamite and Collision (despite being bored by Collision sometimes) because there's always good matches and interesting storylines, all i can say is that this is a good alternative to WWE but howewer like i said, this is far from being perfect and Tony Khan isn't the best booker, sometimes he can write bad storylines or makes bad decisions and the women's division is boring despite having great wrestlers which is something that he needs to improve because of how the booking is mid, nobody cares about the women's division. Sometimes there's some inconsistencies in the booking, there's stuff that we dont understand because this is badly done and it makes the whole thing incoherent but there's also well written storylines, more of the big stories are good actually especially the ones with Adam Page (one of the best character in professional wrestling today, AEW made him a star), Kenny Omega, MJF, Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson and etc. AEW has also one of the best roster you can get, it's amazing to see guys like Danielson, Moxley, Omega, Page, Ibushi, Takeshita, Jericho, Young Bucks and etc in the same place though i can agree that there's too much people in the roster and unfortunately some of them are stuck at Rampage or at ROH who became an improved version of Dark. So many memorable as well many bad moments in the promotion (especially the DoN-Full Gear period in 2022, it was terrible), the current product is pleasant to watch and there's often great things."

[9.0] "AEW in my mind is the closest thing to the summation of everything great about pro wrestling. On any given AEW show, you can have super entertaining bits of story as well as intense, high quality wrestling matches. Best of both worlds."

[4.0] "I gave AEW 6* a couple of months ago, but have to update the rating to 4*. I like to give every company the benefit of the doubt, and that was no different with AEW. It's pretty clear that this company is nowhere near, where it was when it started. The shows used to feel exciting, unpredictable and cool. But ever since somewhere around early-mid 2022, the product has fallen off quite a bit, and lost it's magic and identity. At the beginning, they used to be a true alternative to what WWE was presenting, and described themselves as a more sports-based product. While AEW still offers some great matches, they pretty much moved on from their original identity and what made them special, and focus more on booking matches with shockingly lackluster build-ups, silly skits that the fanbase used to criticize WWE for, and bad character development. During these two or so years, AEW has failed to listen to their audience, and failed to pull the trigger on a lot of talents, who used to be white-hot. Not only that, but a lot of them just dissapeared for months, without any explanation as to why. It feels like so many talents have been stuck for years and can't excel. The booking has been absolutely shocking. There's a severe lack of builds to matches. It's just not enough anymore to just announce matches on short notice, without any story or build to them. It often times just feels like hotshot booking that is so random, and doesn't make any sense. Like, why do people get title-shots who clearly don't deserve them? And why not build towards these matches and create interest first? When it comes to titles, it has been pretty obvious for me, that there are way too many titles. Not only that, but also titles from other promotions or sister promotions like ROH get presented and defended on AEW TV. Why? It just waters down the titles and confuses the audience. People watch AEW to watch AEW, and not to see championships from other promotions, that don't even have a TV-Deal. The in-ring action is pretty good, although there are performers who are really limited and live off highspots with no psychology and no-sells. There also have been too many instances, were talents worked reckless and injured their opponents. That has to stop! That is also something Ref's should be more aware of and have to improve to act accordingly if someone gets injured. The women's division is in a sad state and should have a bigger focus, instead of just having one match per show. I think the product is at times too customized for the most "Hardcore" audience, and it isn't explained well enough, who these guys who come from Japan or Mexico are, and why people should care about them. I feels that it's unnecessary to book these guys and girls, when you already have such a deep roster. Production should be improved, because they still have issues, and the shows color patterns and lighting makes the product feel kinda cheap. Having two A-shows and one B-show has oversaturated the product quite a bit. But that makes the bad booking more alarming to me, because I don't feel like I have to watch any of these shows. The only way to fix this, is to have better storytelling, build-ups and feuds. At this point, it has been a lot of skipping for me and lost the interest in the product. I truly wish they go back to what made this show so special. I hope they start to only focus on their shows, and not the competition. And I hope that the constant infighting has an end, and that the company is being led properly."

[10.0] "Currently, AEW is the best wrestling company in the world. There are mistakes that any company can make, but they are not that serious. On social networks there is a lot of hate against the company and without justification, but the company at the in-ring level is exceptional, especially on PPV. My congratulations to Tony Khan."

[5.0] "AEW was very much seen as the babyface promotion in the lead up to their inception. Fans of western professional wrestling didn't like what they were seeing at the time, but knowing that a new alternative promotion was on the horizon gave people a lot of hope. Wins and losses mattered. Tag team wrestling mattered. Joshi wrestlers were going to be predominantly featured. Kenny Omega putting pen to paper was what ultimately sold me on the promotion, as he had established himself as one of the greatest of all time over in New Japan Pro Wrestling. AEW has looked different with every passing year, to the point where you could reasonably label each year of their existence as eras within themselves. I truly hope that 2024 will be the year that AEW hits their stride and regains some of their lost identity. Make wins and losses matter again. Make tag team wrestling matter again by crowning The Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) AEW World Tag Team Champions. Put Riho and Yuka Sakazaki back on TV. Put the world title on Will Ospreay. Restore the feeling."

[3.0] "One of the most promising starts for a promotion in history with that great Dustin vs Cody match. The biggest mistake they ever did was firing Punk and they have made MJF a babyface now and putting him in every other segment of the show, thus overexposing him. They have been having avg to great ppvs for the longest time but they have bee having bad televison for months. Ratings are at an all-time low, attendances are also at an all-time low and Tony Khan is not a good promoter. He's a fan with money. He's not a good booker at all and doesn't listen to his critics at all and acts like a child on social media. ALSO IF YOU CAN'T BOOK YOUR WOMEN'S DIVISON IN 4 YEARS OF THIS PROMOTION, JUST DON'T HAVE A WOMEN'S DIVISION AT ALL FROM THE START."

"AEW saved pro wrestling for me. I took 10 year break after WWE shenigans, after I heard the news about the major competitor I had not other choise but check it out. At first it was hard but goddammit my passion has restored for this sport. Only problem I have is underutilizing women, but it's getting better. It doesn't have flashy and artificial like other company, I love this with all their flawes. Hopefully TK gets some help at some point to restore their early days."

"AEW has since its inception been incredible , even tho they do have some misses. Nowadays tho , the company is struggling through injuries , confused booking , and decreased fan support due to the honeymoon phase fading away. i think aew have it in them to get back to their best form , however they really need to start working on their weaker spots , for example , what made aew so cool to me in the beginning was the quality of their weekly storytelling with feeling like everyone has something to do , to their longterm incredible storylines with character development, while over the last month they are starting to try to get back on track with that , we will see how it will go they need to give their womens division more time , they have some incredible talents there that aren't getting their time to shine. they need to cut ROH from their weekly tv shows as it is harming both aew and roh."

[7.0] "aew can be very good. for the most part their pay per views are really good, but as of this last year or so they just havent felt like themselves. some of it might be the newness wearing off but they just dont feel like themselves. maybe its some of the backstage issues coming to light that just makes it feel like a mess, but i find myself not as interested in majority of tv. i still like aew, theyve got a very good roster, tend to put on great matches (though some can go overboard for sure) and they typically deliver when they need to. but like i said, they just done feel like who they were."

[7.0] "AEW's singles division has gotten a lot better since 2019, however its tag division took a step back, the women's division has also gotten slightly better but considering the talent, its a far cry from what it could be, The Trios is a huge mess. Another problem AEW has is it's ever growing roster and how to properly balance the new and old; Unfortunately, only a few are consistently booked at the top level spot and the rest are rotated in favor of new faces that are mostly ex-WWE employees. In recent times however, AEW has begun focusing more on homegrown talents like Ricky Starks, Hook, Jungle Boy, Acclaimed, Jamie Hayter which I think is great. Even though they are the clear no. 2 in the bussiness, AEW is already too big to fail and they consistently produce high quality shows and lots of quality matches including multiple MOTYCs. Another aspect I liked about AEW is that it capitalises on the existing storylines from the independent scene instead of rebranding/creating a new persona and gives more freedom to the wrestlers creatively. But their biggest issue is long term storytelling, which WWE and New Japan does far better imo; Other than MJF, there is no young under 35 wrestler that is actually booked to be a pillar despite the fact that they keep bringing up the Four pillars Schtick."

[8.0] "If I'm being completely honest, AEW is the BEST wrestling promotion right now. Don't get me wrong WWE is decent and Impact seems to be doing better but there's just something about AEW that feels different from other wrestling companies. Maybe it's the talents or the atmosphere. I only started watching 21 months ago (at the time of this rating) so I didn't see the "golden days" of AEW but I've seen amazing things. To be honest, the company fell off once CM Punk won the AEW World Title. The match qualities started going down, you could tell there was a shift in the atmosphere, and it overall wasn't that great. Plus, everyone started getting injured. And don't even get me started on the Sammy Guevara/Scorpio Sky...I can't even call it a storyline. But I LOVE AEW and I can't wait to see them continue to grow."

"Gratest promotions in the lasts 10 years. I restart to watch wrestling after a lot of years thank's to Tony Khan's promotion. Matches are great, good storyline. I think that 12 ppv and Collision aren't good, because with some ppv at year, Dynamite and Rampage, make easy to follow for who don't have a lot of hour to spend with it."

[8.0] "In a similar way to WWE, AEW in recent years has fallen off. Why? Namely because they have a roster that is so large it is unrealistic for the amount of weekly shows. Contrary to the opinions of many, a massive roster can be run and maintained well but they may need to increase their weekly TV prescence which they may not have funding to do. Another major drawback to AEW is the blatant fact the Tony Khan books his favorite wrestlers. Some talented performers rarely show up on a show and if they do it is often time to get buried by more recognizable talent. Using the same 6 wrestlers every show can become pretty stale pretty fast. Having multiple PPVs so close together does help with the oversized roster but negativley effects storytelling. For people who can not afford or access PPVs for them to be nearly bi-weekly in some months really makes coherent storylines hard to maintain and follow. The final gripe about this promotion is the constant referencing of WWE. Now while its understandable to talk about legends of wrestling across promotions since WWE has been the superpower of the industry for so long, it does a great diservice to AEW to constantly reference WWE when the latter doesnt acknowledge the others existance at all. Which really speaks volumes if the goal of referencing is to discredit or ridicule the oppositions product and hype up your own. The major triumph of AEW is the talent. Depending on the wrestler one AEW performer has more talent then three of some of the main card WWE performers of this time."

[4.0] "I stopped watching AEW regularly for many reasons. First, they constantly push wrestlers I have no desire to watch. How many scrawny wrestlers do they shove down our throats? OC, Darby, Young Bucks, Wheeler Yuta, Adam Cole, Sammy and Jungle Boy are all physically unimpressive and charisma vacuums yet they're presented as legitimate threats. Orange Cassidy is the worst of them all. At first I was indifferent to him, but Tony kept shoving him down my throat. I think he opened Dynamite for 10 weeks in a row. I guess they're trying to make him the next Bruno Sammartino with his International Championship run. Just put the world title on him already, because that's inevitable. Also, their roster is just too big. Sometimes I look at their wrestling cards and have no interest because it includes a bunch of jobbers or people I don't even know. I don't want to watch Butcher and the Blade, Dark Order, Best Friends or The Kingdom ever! As for the wrestlers I do enjoy, some I might not get to see for months on end! I'm a fan of Shida and was into her angle with the outsiders last January. Then she disappeared for 6 months! By the time she came back, I really didn't care anymore. The fanbase is also a major turn off. They think everything AEW puts out is absolute perfection. They're so delusional. If Dynamite has a bad rating they'll always say it's good anyways because of the NBA or NFL, MLB competing. They just lost to NXT and they're saying it's a win anyways because they nearly kept their demo and that WWE couldn't hit a million. Just take the L, admit you lost and move on. No need to grasp for straws and bash WWE all the time. I read the ratings on Cagematch and AEW's subreddit and wonder if I'm living on the same planet as these people."

[10.0] "I hadn't watched any wrestling from 2001 - 2015, and then sparingly checked in with NXT and NJPW until AEW rolled around. Since then, I think I've only missed three live shows. Pro wrestling is a big part of my life now, and it's because of this company. Every promotion is going to have its ups and downs, but I find the shows exciting and the wrestling excellent."

[9.0] "By televised pro wrestling standards, AEW is an exceptionally consistent product. This is especially true for PPVs and for most episodes of Dynamite and Collision. The focus on in-ring excellence, and the flexibility given to the wrestlers to control their own storylines/characters is a refreshing change in the ecosystem. AEW's ability to broker partnerships with other promotions (e.g., NJPW, DEFY, Impact) is such a welcome development in comparison to WWE's parasitic relationship with the rest of the business. There will always be misfires in any promotion with regard to booking and production, but it seems that AEW listens to its fans and adjusts/evolves in a pragmatic way."

[6.0] "I'm glad AEW exists, especially for all the wrestlers who were wronged, punished, fired by WWE or forced to deal with Vince's bad creative. I'm also glad AEW exists because it gives a chance to other wrestlers who wanted to make it big in this business without encountering the soulless, corporate side of WWE. That being said, day by day, AEW feels less like a company that's rivaling a wrestling monopoly and more like a rich mark's real life TEW save."

[6.0] "Meh for me. Matches were alright (standouts being the main event and the brutal stampede matches) but what spoils the entire event is it's poor production value. I know you can't have WWE quality but when you know months in advance that the stadium will be filled with 80, 000 people, there is an adaptation to be had, which does not seem to have been done. Sound was exceptionally bad, cameras were all over the place and in this many, many (too many) tornados matches they fail to spot the action. But hey! , better chance next year!"

[9.0] "Rated AEW a 9 in June 2022, before the company kinda went off the rails a bit with injuries, a bit excessive, although not always bad, ROH involvement and a lot of backstage drama. Luckily Full Gear 2022 represented a pretty big shift in the company's direction and showed them really get back on their feet. Since then, things have been generally stellar. In my opinion, Revolution, Forbidden Door, All In and All Out 2023 are some of the best wrestling shows I've seen since I got into it. I'm keeping a 9 rating here, with the only thing stopping them from a 10 the very inconsistent and sometimes nonexistent feeling women's division. Despite that, the women involved in the company regularly put on great matches in despite of the lackluster booking. The post CM Punk era will be quite interesting for the company as they continue to solidify their top stars and their identity, and its exciting that they have so many different directions they can go and wrestlers to elevate."

[9.0] "What an amazing promotion. Is it perfect? Of course not. The women are treated like second class citizens, and 2022 was a rough year overall with all the ROH crap and the clogging up of a bloated roster. The "Discontent of Phil Brooks" hung over much of this year, but that issue has thankfully been resolved, and I expect the company to bounce back quickly. The extra screen time afforded by Collision should continue to solve the bloated roster issue, particularly now that it has opened up to the ENTIRE roster, not just friends of Punk. The belts are getting back on track, and MJF has grown into being an amazing champion. Alongside strong leaders like Danielson and Moxley, and the core group of stars that bust their backs at every show, AEW is in no danger of failing anytime soon."