I don't think there's any question it would cause an initial ratings spike. Not sure how much it ends up mattering longer-term.

Some valid points here...

Wow, a weekly show actually worth watching. AEW is killing it.

My impulse is to say yes, but otoh those who would start watching cuz of punk are already watching

Otooh I’m not watching anything, have not seen a single episode of AEW and I’m already committed to watching that chicago PPV whose name escapes me

Chris Jericho is probably my favourite wrestler of all time. Guy is good at everything and I think he has been fantastic for AEW.

I watched most of a WWE episode tonight. It wasn't that bad. The editing seems a lot better now that they're in an arena with crowds instead of the thunderdome. I don't know if it's just because I'm not familiar with them but most of the characters and matches were pretty generic. There aren't any factions either.

I start watching the first episode of AEW Dark and it has Excalibur and Taz, who not only have amazing chemistry together, but both have their own personalities they bring to the show. Compared to the generic announcers on WWE. Then the first match is with Luchasaurus, Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy and there's more variety in that one faction than there was in that entire episode of WWE.

Having said that, it's not a bad show if you want to veg out for 2 hours but I didn't really get invested in any of the characters or stories. Reminds me of King of Queens. It's a perfectly generic sitcom that's good if you want to veg out and be moderately entertained for a bit.

C-M PUNK?

CM Punk.

Should be a fun show tonight

I'm hoping he doesn't show purely for the riots that'll result because of it.

Can anyone PM me possible creeks for tonight?

Its probably been 3+ years since I watched a weekly wrestling TV program live (usually catch up on the DVR whenever its convenient):

With that said, I will be watching Rampage live tonight.

Tony Khan is talking such a big game for this show. There needs to be significantly more than just CM Punk showing his face and walking out (a la a Christian Cage debut), or it will be a failure in my eyes.

But they got me excited to see!

Gotta admit. Kinda hyped

Will also lol hard if he doesn’t show

Yea the card is weak . Making me think rampage will be a joke most weeks

Alright, I haven't watched AEW since shortly after its debut, but I'm in.

Wowwowoowowow it’s actually happening

Man. This pop is cool.

Good on Excalibur for not taking away from it by doing that annoying thing AEW has done on all surprise debuts too, that 'OMG, IS THAT? IS THAT? WOW IT IS' thing

Actually surprised to see honest-looking emotion. Dude always just seems like a mercenary.

Meanwhile WWE countering this with *checks notes* Logan Paul

Pretty incredible moment.

wat

That entrance was epic.

Hopefully the promo is just as good.

First time I marked out at a wrestling moment since Bork came back

Honestly, that's a much kinder position toward the fans than the ones who hated on him deserve.

Moment delivered.

I just noticed like 3 minutes ago JR was doing commentary tonight, hes not a rampage guy.