Welcome back to another Monday Morning Q&A where I toss out some questions to get a feel of how you guys and gals are feeling about certain topics.
So here are 5 questions I’d like to toss out for this week. I’ll give my answers, too, but the key here is that I want to know what YOU think! So make sure you chime in!
1) Did you give or receive anything wrestling related as a gift for the holidays?
Not at all. This year, due to the economy being in such horrendous shape and a few other factors, I actually didn’t exchange a single gift with any person whatsoever. However, I will say that I was tempted to pick up the blurred yeet Jey Uso t-shirt as a gift for myself before I realized I’d rather spend $30+ on some other things in the long run.
I ask this not for myself to answer, but more so for everyone else. I’m curious to see your responses!
2) What do you think was better overall this year, AEW or WWE?
Despite having its fair share of struggles, I’m definitely going with WWE on this one.
As I pointed out in my articles, I’ve not been a fan, at all, of how flippant Tony Khan books shows with last-minute matches being thrown onto a card and an implied marketing of “But don’t you want to see Guy 1 against Guy 2? Won’t that be a good match?” For some people, they love that New Japan style approach of outright in-ring action being the #1 most important thing and everything else being a far distant #2. Those friends of mine who approach wrestling from that angle LOVE everything that comes out of AEW and ROH, basically, and I’m glad for them. My tastes, though, align more with the WWE approach, where I need both a good match and an interesting storyline in order to be invested.
AEW did have some great matches this year, but I feel like the storylines suffered dramatically. The entire women’s division was just a waste of time for me when it was nothing but “The Outcasts fight the same 3-4 people, beat them up, and do the spray paint gimmick until they’re announced to fight again at the next show” thing. But in the same regard, that’s what I hated this year about WWE when it came to The Judgment Day and The Bloodline. The Bloodline suffered a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE downgrade to me, and there were MONTHS where Raw was nothing but “The Judgment Day run Monday Night Raw” leading up to the same six-man tag team matches. That all became unwatchable.
But what separates WWE from AEW this year for me is that AEW had a ton of injuries that ruined its main storylines, like MJF/Adam Cole, whereas WWE was lucky enough to not have that problem get in the way. Therefore, we had more feuds that could see themselves through, like Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens winning the tag titles, or the creation of the World Heavyweight Championship to offset the lack of The Tribal Chief.
WWE’s far from perfect. There are so many things I’d change if I were in control. But I think WWE made more steps this year to correct problems and turn things around, whereas AEW felt like a filler year with a lot of problems. I’m hoping both companies are so great in 2024 that when I ask this question again, I’ll say that it’s a tie because they’re too good to find any negatives. That means also not screwing up WrestleMania 40. Give us Cody Rhodes beating Roman Reigns and winning those titles!!!
3) What are your predictions for AEW New Year’s Smash?
- Jon Moxley wins the Gold League semifinal
- Eddie Kingston wins the Blue League semifinal
- I could see the ROH World Tag Team Championship changing hands if there’s a reveal of who The Devil’s Crew is, but I don’t think that’s necessarily happening, so I’ll go with MJF and Samoa Joe winning that match.
Largely, I’m expecting Dynamite and Rampage to just be normal episodes with some random matches thrown onto them, rather than any other major things happening. It IS the go-home show for Worlds End, so you’d think there would need to be a few big angles or some more matches announced to the card for that event, but with the way Tony Khan’s been booking pay-per-views, I’m not expecting it to be anything outside the norm with all that. For instance, it wouldn’t shock me if Jericho’s partner isn’t even announced, and we go into Worlds End with “TBA” still listed, either because the mystery of it all is supposed to be a draw, or because it hadn’t been settled on who will be the replacement yet.
4) Are there any last minute surprises you think AEW or WWE has in store for 2023?
WWE, none. Zero. They’ve already gone out of their way promoting New Year’s Knockout Week. The rest of the year is pre-recorded recap material. Basically, don’t even bother to pay attention to WWE until January 1st with the Day 1 edition of Raw.
AEW has much more of a chance to pull off a surprise or two. As stated, Worlds End is coming up, so the next episodes of Dynamite and Rampage should, at the very least, build up some hype for that. But the Worlds End event has a chance to see some title changes and some reveals like who The Devil is. Those should be big moments, and we know that the Continental Classic is finishing, which is important, too.
As much as this post comes off as “I’ve enjoyed WWE more than AEW this year”, if you were to ask me which one of the two I’m more into over the next few days, it’s AEW by a country mile.
5) How would you like to see eWrestlingNews improve in 2024?
I ask this because I’d love to get as much feedback as possible and some ideas of the content you guys want to see. Do you want more editorials? More coverage of promotions outside of WWE and AEW? Would you like to see more opinions added to the results coverage posts? Maybe some podcasts? Live chat stuff on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? Should we make a TikTok or anything like that? Give us your wants and desires!
Let us know your thoughts about these questions by answering them in the comments!
