Coffey

I guess I should answer the thread I created as well. I will say from the jump that I like AEW & think they have a lot of potential. I like quite a bit of the roster. My biggest issue is I think AEW is a different product than what I was expecting. I like Tony Schiavone on commentary. Paul Wight on Dark has been good too, honestly. I don't think Jim Ross has it anymore & think he actively hurts the TV product but he would be invaluable behind the scenes with all of his experience & knowledge. I'm also not a fan of Excalibur as I don't think you need to give your commentators gimmicks. He comes off as a try-hard nerd that makes shit feel uncool by trying to sound know-it-all if that makes sense. You can't take him seriously. I've heard the Mike Tenay comparisons a lot but Mike Tenay in 1998 making Lucha Libre references is a lot different than a masked commentator in the internet world calling matches in 2021. I also loathe the idea of feeling like wrestling ever needs a commentary booth with more than two people. A straight laced play-by-play & a color commentator that works off of them. The in-ring style could be slowed down & the people could sell a lot more. My biggest issue with AEW is probably that everyone thinks they're Shawn Michaels or Rob Van Dam or Rey Mysterio & none of them are. Too many guys on the roster do flashy shit just because they think it'll look cool instead of doing it because it makes sense. Case in point, Brian Cage doing a 6-1-9 or Luchasaurus doing suicide dives & standing moonsaults. This is where I think having a Mark Henry or Big Show offering some guidance might help but that doesn't mean anyone will listen to them, but they don't need to be on-air in-ring talent. The way the show looks, specifically the entrances on Dynamite, comes off as TNA or WCW Saturday Night to me which I think looks a bit amateurish & low rent with the two tunnels. I like that they're licensing music now though. I think that's a big step in the right direction. Other people that they have brought in like Matt Hardy I don't get the appeal of at all if they're in an on-air wrestling role. Matt Hardy looks like he can barely even walk anymore. Christian can still go but every time he gets a win over someone else, it feels like it is squandering younger talent. It needs to lead to something. Miro has been great. Andrade was a great signing. I would be OK with them bringing in Tommy End as well. Jim Ross in particular loves Jake Hager but I've never seen anything there - he doesn't have any charisma. There's a difference between untapped potential & has-been. I think AEW has an issue with trying to do too much comedy at the top of the card, specifically pretty much every time Jericho is on screen. He's corny & is frequently the worst part of every show. I wish they would move away from him entirely. It feels forced & doesn't come off as natural at all. That's a lot different than say, Eddie Kingston cracking a joke. The Elite, especially Omega & Callis have also been quite bad with a lot of their "jokes" like the "69 me, Don!" shit. I also don't think doing gimmicks like the alien chick, The Dark Order or Luchasaurus makes sense in this day & age unless you're leaning all the way into it like Chikara did. I don't mind the stables or factions but they need to have a purpose. Like The Dark Order doesn't have a purpose. More so now with the passing of Brodie Lee. The Matt Hardy group, the Cody group, the QT Marshall group... it's just putting a bunch of people on TV that shouldn't be on TV. The Inner Circle Vs. The Pinnacle was fine because it was serving a purpose. It certainly helped to establish Sammy Guevara. Tully has been great. Jake is kind of just there now but his promo on Cody was good & I think he gave Archer a sense of danger around him (which if he's babyface now doesn't make sense anymore). Not a fan of Vickie. Using a manager as a mouth piece for a talent that can't promo would be really beneficial. Arn with Cody doesn't make much sense because Cody can talk for himself. You put Arn with someone like Wardlow or Hager & it makes more sense. Which is why I assume they were put in the Jericho stable so Jericho could do the talking but he's making them look goofy by association because he won't act serious. Tony Khan needs to keep himself off of TV entirely & needs to be more willing to tell people no. Not every idea is a great idea. Not everything Jericho thinks is funny should make TV, nor should the Young Bucks/Omega stuff just because it's an in-joke for their YouTube shit. Meltzer is too praising, Cornette is too critical (especially of the women) which makes both of their opinions mean less because you expect they're both going to love/hate everything. The rise of Britt Baker is one of the best things, if not the best thing, that AEW has done to date. Shida did a good job as champion & think the women's division is going to be really good moving forward with Thunder Rosa & Serena Deeb. They have talent. I do think that the pandemic hit this division especially hard but I have a positive outlook moving forward here. One of the better parts of the program & if they can get Ruby that would be a good acquisition. Hell, who knows, maybe they could get lucky and get Charlotte in the future, now that they got Andrade. The tag division is a mess. Instead of being a resurgence of the days of the Rock & Roll Express or The Midnight Express it feels like just a spot fest of dives & breaking the rules with the referee not enforcing anything. There needs to be more of a focus on the story of the match instead of just the moves of the match. The Young Bucks are terrible at this & it's the reason why I've never liked them. The gimmick/stipulations would be fine if they made sense. Build to them & then do them when the story asks for it. They went in the right direction with the idea behind War Games - two stables that wanted to battle it out. But the Stadium Stampede doesn't make sense. The Casino Battle Royal doesn't make sense. Putting a ladder in a match just because it has high flyers is lazy booking. Doing a Deathmatch just because Moxley wants to doesn't make sense. Do it when the build asks for it not just because you want to do it. The PWG comparison is dead on. That's a good reference. I wanted more 80's NWA & less modern Indie-style, which going by the roster that's on me for expecting. But when I heard they were going to do a more sports oriented style - which did not come to fruition - I was expecting more like the NJPW main event style & less like the 2008 Ring of Honor style... or TNA X-Division. I think the biggest issue with AEW is that there's not a Pat Patterson kind of person, a go-between from Tony Khan & the talent. They need someone that will tell people no to their ideas when it's not a good idea or doesn't make sense. I'm sure the talent feels like they have a lot more freedom but that can be a detriment to the overall show if everyone is just doing whatever they want & you don't have a direction. The biggest positive for AEW is that they have a blank canvas which they can use to create with - like they have done with Britt Baker, Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara, Jungle Boy. Build up these new stars, make them household names & create brand awareness with your own, homegrown talent. There's so much potential in AEW. I love that we have a promotion in the United States providing an alternative to WWE that is on national television. I love that new people are getting a chance to make a mark. I love that the talent has more working options other than just WWE or Japan where they can make a decent living. AEW right now feels like it could be on the cusp of being something big but they won't go all the way with it. Like they want to be a WWE style big promotion but they won't let the wooden stakes out of the ground for the balloon to take off entirely, so they still have some of the Indie things attached to them. Maybe they find it endearing, or nostalgic, or even like they're paying an homage to wrestling from yesterday with the tunnel entrances & what not but I don't think anything that lets you be compared to "B-shows" is a good look nowadays. I also think they're getting dangerously close to spreading themselves too thin with all of the programming they have to fill up now. I don't feel like they need the YouTube shows at all - including Being the Elite. Promos like the one Miro just cut on Evil Uno, that should be happening on TV, not on Instagram. And assume that the viewer doesn't know every single inside reference, joke or callback - the Elite are terrible about that & the commentators often miss it too. Stop giving the likes of Omega, The Young Bucks, Cody & Jericho so much slack. A perfect example: why has no one tried to reign in Pentagon doing the hand gesture shit yet? He's not even wrestling anymore at this point he just doing that like six times a match & it kills the flow. Someone should be on his ass about that. Where are the road agents? Also not every single match needs to be 15 minutes long, through a commercial break, with the people involved kicking out of finishers.

All Elite Wrestling has been around for a bit under two years at this point. Contrary to what you'll read on other corners of the internet, such as Wreddit, or Twitter, it's not an AEW Vs. WWE (or NXT) battle - however, that is not to say that some of the positive/negative talking points about AEW do not have any merit. So, now that AEW has Dynamite, along with the new Friday night show & two YouTube shows in Dark & Elevation, I thought maybe we could discuss some of the often brought up talking points about AEW, the direction of the company & areas you may be concerned about, if any at all. Regardless of if you're a viewer that never misses Dynamite, only watch it every so often or checked it out once or twice & decided it wasn't for you. I'm curious what your turn offs & ons about it are. How do you feel about the commentary in AEW? Jim Ross & Excalibur specifically. How do you feel about the ring style or the look of the show/arena? What are your thoughts about the talent that AEW has been bringing in like Jake Hager, Shawn Spears or more recently, Mark Henry & Paul Wight? Do you think that AEW relies too heavily on comedy? What about their abundance of factions/stables? Managers/Valets? How do you feel about the decisions Tony Khan has taken, or how Dave Meltzer seems to give AEW the constant benefit of the doubt where as Jim Cornette will barely acknowledge when something is good? Are AEW presenting the women well? How about the tag team division? Is AEW relying too much on gimmick/stipulation matches? Most importantly, what do you think the greatest positive about current AEW is & what do you think is their biggest hindrance at this point in time? I wanted to get some conversation going outside of the AEW megathread to maybe just discuss what we like & what we're concerned about going forward.

This pretty much sums up professional wrestling from about 2005-present. A bunch of bland dudes without any character or charisma doing a bunch of spots to "this is awesome!" chants. The Johnny Gargano's & Adam Cole's of the world. Or... pretty much all of AEW.

Everyone should see this:

So happy for Shingo. Well deserved. Awesome wrestler getting his due in a helluva match. It can't be understated how good for how long & how many terrific matches Okada has had during his New Japan run.

So him and Embiid have a lot in common then!

I didn't love a lot of the AEW roster a year ago. Flash forward to today with names like Andrade & Miro there now, getting to watch Jungle Boy, Darby & Britt grow into their own, & starting to get live crowds back... AEW is starting to resemble more of my style. I don't have a problem with Kenny Omega in the ring & think he makes a good champion. I feel like the area of AEW that surprises me the most, in that it has greatly underdelivered over what I expected, is their tag team division. Having the Young Bucks, bringing in FTR & knowing that WWE doesn't exactly capitalize on tag team wrestling, I thought that would be a lot more of a focal point in AEW than it is. I am looking forward to seeing more from Varsity Blonds though. Miro is fantastic as the TNT Champion. If AEW can get away from all the shitty comedy & goofy Jericho skits, they'll be a lot better off.

I usually tend to agree with his stance on current wrestling as well. At least as far as AEW is concerned. But, when we do disagree, we're miles apart. Like he won't even give the women a chance & I often find them the best part of the show. The last PPV, he thought Cody Vs. Ogogo was the match of the night, I found it completely unremarkable & the build to it as very lame.

Miro has moved on from Ivan Drago with his wife to now being Chong Li from Bloodsport. He doesn't need Brigette Nielson anymore, he needs a Ray Jackson to break so that Frank Dux can get his revenge!

I would join the Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club if he were paying me $200k/year to sit backstage & eat catering. Yeah, the life on the road would be hard & I couldn't personally find myself enjoying driving all the miles, doing all the car rentals, airplane travel & hotel living but even the bottom tier job guys are putting back a lot of money & own big properties to set themselves up for life after WWE. Like look at the house that Zack Ryder was living in. That WWE wanted to use his pool for filming a vignette after he was fired. As a non-wrestler, just a normal, everyday person working long hours for not a lot of money, I can't imagine making enough money where I wouldn't have to worry about going to the doctor, or if I needed unforeseen car repairs or not having to stress about wanting to have a baby because we can't afford it. I get the creative aspect of it & the wanting to succeed & be a top guy & all that. But, at least for me, and I'm sure others as well, that shit would come AFTER being financially secure first. WWE has provided that to a lot of people & their families. The TV sucks, the creative is tapped out but there's still a lot of bonds & friendships being made, relationships backstage among the talent & they're all still getting paid. There does seem to be some Stockholm syndrome & a weird father figure relationship among Vince & a lot of the talent but even if you're not main eventing Wrestlemania or getting the top belt put on you, even if you're just doing a Main Event taping or whatever, you're still there, a part of WWE, still making the shows & the towns, still away from your family & basically living with the roster.

This problem can be solved if AEW were actually willing to release anyone. Their roster is giga-bloated & they could easily get rid of about 15-20 people. But seeing as how it doesn't exactly go over well during the pandemic, I like & understand that they have not done that. I think it's a positive that up to this point they haven't as this has been rough times for a lot of people & we all see how much bullshit it looks like when WWE is making all these profits & cite "budget cuts" are their reasoning for releasing people. But yeah, like a lot of the Dark & Elevation talent & a lot of the "extras" (like in the Dark Order) or the people that accompany other people... a lot of people just taking up space in AEW.

I love the more relaxed, child-friendly Johnny Sorrow. Reading the joy of the kids always puts a smile on my face.

The bigger issue for me is when you win a title shot in the undercard battle royal, you don't look like a big deal like compared to what Jon Moxley did in his debut. He just... showed up in the main event & made a statement. Makes him look like a much bigger star. I'm always worried about a new person showing up in the battle royal will look more like Matt Sydal & less like Jon Moxley, if that makes sense.

Even if it's a big name, I don't like the idea of their debut being in a nothing battle royale full of jobbers. That's a bad look period. I'd be fine with Jungle Boy winning.

Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Aleister Black, Sami, Owens.. would love to see Jason Jordan/Chad Gable again. If we include NXT, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, Finn Balor & maybe a random WALTER appearance. There's a lot they could do. A lot of potential, fun match-ups. Sheamus against Ishii woo boy. But I wouldn't wanna touch anything WWE these days if I were another promotion. Even Wrestlemania now feels like an afterthought.

My biggest pet peeve in wrestling nowadays is when a big man does finally show up anymore, they try to work like they're a member of the Young Bucks. Keith Lee comes to mind. Or Luchasaurus. I'm OK with a spot or two that shows off their athleticism for a pop during a big match but they should never be doing leap frogs, suicide dives, frankensteiners & moonsaults in every single match to the point where it's not even special anymore but expected. That's what 90% of the roster already does. But the rest of the roster can't be 6'6" 300lbs, so try to stand out instead of trying to be like "look, I can do it too!" Lunacy.

Powerrr feels like it is on its last legs. The Fite deal & the constant recap shows, along with the depleting roster are all bad signs. The website still doesn't have merch, I just don't think they recovered from losing the YouTube & the initial buzz. Thunder Rosa is obviously going to be gone. I'm sure someone will pick up Kamille too, as she's great although I don't think Vince McMahon would love her accent. I just hope that Tim Storm stays involved in professional wrestling for as long as he desires. That man is a treasure. He should be employed somewhere if he leaves NWA. Even if in a non-wrestling role. He's really well spoken & looks great in a suit. He knows wrestling. I wish them luck on their upcoming pay-per-view but I can't imagine it doing too well.

Oh, I have no doubt Jim knew what he was saying & doing when he dropped that little nugget.

Kenny Omega, "a hell of a hand."

Jim Ross said the following on his podcast: “We have a little controversy going about who I apparently said that I thought Randy Orton was the best wrestler in the world. People forget that I recruited these guys. I’ve had a business association with a guy like Randy Orton since day one. Coach Barry Switzer said, ‘You recruit these kids for life’ and I kind of take that to heart. I’ve helped a lot of guys who got down on their luck and needed a check, what have you, way past WWE days. Apparently, people thought I was besmirching Kenny Omega…Nothing could be farther from the truth..How many times have I said to you (Conrad Thompson), ‘I can have many opinions to this question and have many answers.’…I don’t know how that could be such a big issue. I just don’t get it. I really don’t understand what the inflammation is regarding this topic that is so subjective. There’s no right or wrong answer. He’s the best in the world based on what? Arm drags? Drop toeholds? Money drawn? Major events headlined? Tenure? What is the criteria? TV ratings? I don’t know what the criteria is for these things. Anybody that can debate me and tell me that Randy Orton is not one of the best in the world will have a hard time winning that argument. Anybody can debate me and say, ‘Well, I think Kenny Omega is.’ Well, you make a good point. I don’t have any problem with that. Kenny Omega is the AEW Champion. He’s a hell of a hand. There’s no doubt about it, but golly. People are so sensitive right now, but that’s the whole tone and tenor of social media. I’m not so sure how great in some sense that social media is for pro wrestling today, because it’s one little blotch, one little missed word, one little missed move, and it becomes a major issue. It’s getting a little bit predictable first of all, but it’s getting a little bit tired, if you know what I’m saying.”

After reading his second book, which isn't that old, I don't believe that Jim Ross doesn't want to go back to WWE. Despite all the shit they did to him & how they treated him & disrespected him, he still talked about Vince McMahon like he was his father. AEW offered him stupid money, which is probably the sole reason he went in the first place. Even beyond the whole "grumpy" part about Jim Ross which has been true for years, I think - at least it appears this way (even from his live on air comments but especially if you listen to his podcast) that he considers AEW second rate. He's not putting in anymore effort than he did for New Japan where he couldn't even be bothered to learn the names of the talent. He frequently buries the talent on live TV. It's embarrassing. He needs to go away. He's a detriment to the on-air product, regardless of what Turner brass think of him. And Randy Orton, never in his entire career, has even been in the conversation for best wrestler in the world. Not even if you just look at WWE only during his peak years.

I'm not sure they would make it out of the building. (if they knew whose phone it was, obviously)

Honestly, after the Paige stuff & previous leaks within the company along with everyone have a cellphone, I'm surprised it hasn't happened a lot more frequently. I don't think it would necessarily be one of the boys but all the arenas & whatnot that they go to they all have employees there too. Prolly think they can get a payday if they snap some pics are try to sell 'em. Like what happened to Erin Andrews at the hotel. It's scary & gross but that feels like the new-age "paparazzi" to me. Scumbags invading privacy & ruining lives because they don't care about the consequences of the people's lives that they ruin, they're only thinking about themselves & a potential paycheck. If it IS one of the boys that would do something like that, lord have mercy.

Well, I mean, rational thought kind of goes out the window when you buy into lunatic cults. The reasoning is 100% going to be because Christianity is "right" & everything else is "wrong." Same with his thoughts on abortion, masks, etc.

I would say it was a good day, but Paul Mooney unfortunately passed away today as well. So I'll say this was probably a good & smart decision by WWE as it pertains to Drake Wuertz. That being said, I think that dude probably needs legitimate, serious help. He had already went full on Looney Tunes mode & then losing your job on top of that might be a recipe for destruction.