NXT

[Prime Time]

Without AEW up against them, NXT pulled in a rating of 853,000, up from the previous week's 619,000.

[PEN15v2]

I think 200,000 makes sense in terms of representing fans of AEW who enjoy NXT. I would have loved for it to be higher, but this "war" has caused such immature division among fans that I bet there's a significant amount of AEW fans who enjoy NXT, but refuse to give ratings, or whatever.

Plus, it's a common discussion, but I think the ratings/viewership metric is so ridiculous in 2020. With NXT on the Network the next day, and with illegal live streaming and downloading, ratings don't really reflect the amount of fans a show has. It reflects how many do it with commercials on, and we kow that most commercials get ignored. I understand how the metric is important for advertising reasons, but WWE has the Network. They have 2 other shows with bigger audiences. And NXT does not reflect WWE's standard style, no matter how you feel about it.

I dunno. Maybe it's more important than I realize. But to me, NXT losing to AEW is small potatoes to them other than for ego. And while I do believe Vince and HHH's egos are both huge, I also think they've got bigger things to worry about overall.

[Prime Time]

Oh, I agree in many ways. I think there are all sorts of things we can estimate, from the TV ratings, especially in concert with other data. But the one thing you can't really tell about is the size of the NXT audience, because of the Network. My guess is that the majority of Network subscribers watch, commercial free, on the Network? So, NXT's ratings in the US could be potentially a million more than the recorded number. AEW's are likely higher too, though I doubt by as much.

[Team Farrell]

There's still a few more weeks unopposed as well.

It's not the million that they drew their first week running, but also remember that Raw is drawing a million and a half or so people right now. It doesn't surprise me that NXT is drawing a little better than half that.

I find the war so, silly. Especially the acknowledgement of it in AEW. It feels so much like whining, and "the demos" just comes off as excuse making or moving the goalpost. One thing I like about WWE is that you never hear about it, you never here an allusion to a "war". They're just doing their thing. Every now and then you get a segment or something where if you're "in the know" it'll be a little extra funny or it's a shot, but if you aren't paying attention on that level it's still a joke.

That's the difference between companies. AEW has no fans that aren't absolutely bonkers hardcore, knows it and is working to appeal to them as much as humanly possible (in turn appealing to nobody else whatsoever), where WWE is trying to appeal to Joe Sixpack in Butte, Montana. That says nothing of the overall quality of WWE's product, just that I don't have to have read 15 Wikipedia articles, bought half the PWG library, watched at least one YouTube show and know all the latest dirt sheet gossip to feel caught up when I'm watching a WWE show.

Say what you will about the constant replays on WWE TV, but man I didn't realize how frustrating the exact opposite could be.

[Prime Time]

I find the idea of the war silly, mainly because I don't think you can call it a war when no one is willing to change to broaden their appeal. It just feels like an attempt to latch on to the late-1990s, because half the people watching missed it, and have heard nothing but about how great it is.

The one thing you can say in defence of AEW is that there wouldn't be a war if they hadn't been counter-programmed, so I guess they are entitled to talk a little smack about it. But at the same time, if you do make the fact you're 'winning' everything, you have to accept you're going to get mocked when you then resort to 'buh-buh-but we won the demo!'

[Team Farrell]

I find the idea of the war silly, mainly because I don't think you can call it a war when no one is willing to change to broaden their appeal. It just feels like an attempt to latch on to the late-1990s, because half the people watching missed it, and have heard nothing but about how great it is.

I think that the tribalism has gotten way worse than it was in the MNW, too. Maybe I'm crazy and it's not true and 20 years ago it was just as bad, but I don't remember there being so much animosity between fans. Both companies definitely had their camp of fans that only watched one or the other because that was the style they preferred (we know that's true by how many people stopped watching wrestling in 2001/2002) but the majority watched both, or whatever was better or whatever was cooler.

But today, there's so much "Fuck AEW, I hope they go out of business" or "Vince sucks, AEW is gaining and is the best wrestling show that's ever existed and WWE is going to be out of business next year!".

Like, I'm not a fan of the AEW product, but I still like some of it and I skim their show to watch what I like. And I bitch about what I don't like because it's fun to do and I'm passionate about pro wrestling. What kind of sociopath actually wants to see them go out of business and put like 80 wrestlers out of work and back on the indies? Shit, does anyone think that guys like Warhorse would be getting the opportunities that they got in 2019/2020 if AEW hadn't signed so many dudes off the indies?

The whole concept of Team A vs Team B certainly makes your fans dedicated, but it makes wrestling discussion so gross.

[PEN15v2]

I think tribalism is just worse these days. Name a topic and the division in discussion is more volatile than ever. Thank you Al Gore and your invention the INTERNET!

[PEN15v2]

I really like Mauro, but I really haven't missed him lately, and I would take Vic /Beth /Wade Barrett as the full time announce team instead.

[Buzzard Guts]

A multi-man ironman match has always been a dream match of mine. Really looking forward to it.

[PEN15v2]

Meh, sounds like a complicated mess to me. But, we'll see.

[Powder]

If I was to guess the winner, I would bet that Balor gets the win and the title, since he had to give up the Universal Title under the exact same circumstances.

[Team Farrell]

It'll be interesting, but I have a feeling it's going to devolve into spot after spot. I'm not super into the idea, but I'll give it a chance.

[comfortablynumb]

Multi-man Ironman match is definitely an interesting concept. Not a complaint at all but it’s interesting we went from two very big dudes fighting for the title back to four midgets.

I think it’s between Gargano and Balor for the win. I’ll go with Gargano as the title would be a nice addition to Johnny and Candice’s home video promos. Ciampa is my favorite of the bunch but I think he needs to be built up a little more before another title run. Cole winning would seem like we are resetting to three months ago.

[Prime Time]

Without AEW up against them, NXT pulled in a rating of 853,000, up from the previous week's 619,000.

NXT held most of that increase, down just 3.3% to 824,000.

[PEN15v2]

Consensus is that this Takeover was near perfect.

It was solid, but the matches didn't have a lot of variety to them. I think lacking a tag team match really hurt the show. NXT Takeover tag matches have been either solid classic tag team matches, or YoungBucks lunacy no structure style. I prefer the former, but no matter what this show lacked having something break up the standard NXT Takeover singles match. All matches were slightly unique, but in the end they bled together too often in too many ways. 7.5 out of 10