Ryan Faulconer

Perhaps 50something aging rock stars who also wrestle (sometimes with COVID bonus) shouldn’t be taking bumps off a cage or falls off a stage. That bump that Jericho took looked rather...comfortable almost. I am shocked that he didn’t try and make “snow angels” with all of that landing apparatus that they built for Jericho. It resembled our childhood days falling off a deck into huge snowbanks during our robust Canadian winters. The match itself was better than I imagined it would be. This was definitely not the 98 or 2000 versions of the match-type. I’d put this edition above one of the NWO (96, 97) entries but below the two great ones from 91 and 92. There might be six or so that are definitely immediately better. I saw one two-ring war games from Adam Page’s former home promotion. With no build up for that match at all I would rate it a bit above Blood & Guts if we are keeping score. When this type of match is done properly it is really hard for it to not be at least a well booked heated brawl...which Blood & Guts was. Keeping the rules that Dusty wrote down on stone tablets, a War Games match has a basement of at least ***3/4. This one tonight was a very satisfying ****. It loses points for Crash Test Jericho. Why did Cody blade in an undercard match at the start of a feud? Stuff like that almost makes me start to believe all the evil genius Cody talk.

This is the...news? MIRO~! Is beating up some poor guy from Cultsholic, Wrestletalk or Whatculture.

I realize nobody can answer this but...Why did most of all the top level or star women’s talent have only a “cup of coffee” with early AEW events? In the first year or so Tenille Dasheood, Chelsea Green, Kiley Rae, Priscilla Kelly, Bea Priestley, Mercedes Martinez, Allyson Kay and Tessa Blanchard all worked a show or two but never stay any longer. They have Awesome Kong but she is injured(?) or coaching(?). Which takes another name out of the talent pool. The difference between last July and now is enormous in the women’s division since I went in on a gamble and eventually resumed following AEW religiously again. Last year was just Nyla, absentee Riho, Big Swole, injured Britt and all those students. Fast forward to today and some of those ladies have blossomed into Anna Jay, Red Velvet, Tay Conti along with Lady Stud Jade Cargill - who is greener than green but has the “it” factor few rookies ever have. They even have a mid card with KiLynn King, Madi Wrenkowski, Tesha Price, Dani Jordyn, Alex Gracia, Leyla Hirsch and most regulars not named Penelope Ford, Shanna, Nyla, Swole, Britt, Diamanté, Rosa and a few that straddle the tiers between the women. It isn’t anywhere as loaded as any WWE roster of their ladies. The depth in WWE is superfluous at best though. Stockpiling talent is bad for the talent! They lose years off their best potential years just so they don’t get exposure anywhere else. This handicaps the potential and eventual talent ceiling of the men or women they either underuse or don’t use at all.

How ‘bout them ‘bucks!!!!! I haven’t seen the ladder match with Uno/Greyson from PWG but this is the best Young Bucks 2-on-2 match I have ever seen . The matches from Revolution and Full Gear are up there for the Bucks. Tonight they didn’t look like they were racing to ge their shit in, as the kids say. I still think New Japan Matt & Jeff are them at their absolute best. This match finally put more character over as they worked a fevered pace. Let us hope this is the start of some new Bucks’ style and not just something they pull out every now and then to show they are heels.

Could the Cody & Brandi reality show be part of an elaborate work? If Cody really is aware of his less likeable qualities perhaps the show could be used to push a new Cody heel persona. There is potential in this being like a Nick Lachey & Jessica Simpson The Newlyweds, only more (or is it less?) scripting of scenes. They could go totally megalomaniacal and place Factory or Dustin’s students as wacky neighbours. Before the turn I always thought QT could be Cody’s friend/frenemy next door. This show would need to be written at a level far surpassing most wrestling storylines in history of this...genre. Then again Cody could become more popular with the show’s exposure. That would derail a potential heel turn though because wrestling fans have goldfish memories far too often. My reality TV watching is pretty outdated. Do people still know about Nick & Jessica? Maybe Britney & K-Fed is more relatable. That is about as current as I get, sadly or thankfully, I’ll leave the choice up to you.

It felt like the argument was whether AEW should use as many wrestlers per Dynamite episode. The problem with the booking is the repetitive angle types and some posters see too many new names that they don’t know. Then there is the Meltzer theory that AEW is losing women - with some pretty weak field reporting to back that up. Anyway, the Dynamite episodes just fly by most of the time. They only need to keep a closer eye on matches with the same layout going out too closely to one another. Tony K should keep an eye on the move or gimmick repetition during matches while he is at it as well. For all the talk of there being too much blood it doesn’t feel like they have used the blade (not Mr. Bunny) all that often, have they? Disappointingly Cody blades for every big PPV match along with the dog collar match on Dynamite. Cody was a favourite of mine in AEW before I ordered the five PPV events during the Black Friday sale. The shows were all good or better and Cody’s matches were usually one of the best every event I watched. Watching a year or more in time captured in five shows makes Cody’s style of match even more repetitive. He changes it up on Dynamite excluding the dog collar match. That match fit his PPV formula though. I don’t care about the pregnancy announcement, gender reveal or their reality show. All his matches getting the bells and whistles that a Triple H...and Dusty too actually, is problematic after all Cody said he wanted to change in wrestling.

The fact that there are few fans or none at all really confuses who is over and who is struggling. Everything would be slingshotted into fast forward mode once they cut a chunk off the roster. I don’t need multiple segments pushing the Johnny Hungy-gimmicks. Smaller roster would require more WWE shenanigans in the back or locker room. Every booker can’t resist pushing the most over guys in the most TV segments. There would be too many shots of stars arriving or leaving, Darby in the rafters, Sting in more interviews, lots’o’ Jericho hijinx, more recaps, more shots at the desk and those videos from The Acclaimed would eat up time on Dynamite. I know that at the time everyone just loved when Konnan, Three Count or 3MB did similar crap, right? Max’s songs on Dark are ten times wittier than his usual ring intros. We don’t need them clogging up Dynamite just to beat us over the head with it in the name of character building. Who knows - I might be out of touch with modern audiences. I’m enjoying most of AEW right now. I don’t want the good stuff to be sacrificed in the name of chasing fans who don’t have the attention span to follow different feuds colliding or two feuds between four stables.

Running more PPVs would speed up the booking considerably. $50 just seems so greedy after growing up before PPVs were a thing and then settling on $29.99 circa 2000. When a promotion books tv properly there should be a natural flow from week to week. One show leads into the next. They shouldn’t need to run big shows because more shows should be big simply from the narrative leading them week to week. 12 PPVs is an outdated concept. Every four weeks they NEEDED to advance issues by using an artificial constraint on every angle. That is a good way to burn through unique matches too quickly. All those constraints imposed on the booking also serve to overdo matches or rematches.

I didn’t want my post to go on and on like a Young Bucks match. Here are some reasons to keep those recommended for the unemployment line. Joey Janela - He seems like someone more important for live crowds. He is probably the least talented guy in AEW. I like the team with Sonny as a Dark mainstay. Sonny Kiss is unique but unlike Joey he is uniquely talented. He could be spun into a different tag team by throwing darts at the AEW roster blindfolded. Chaos Project is slept on. They are just undercard guys. Serpentico can do double duty. I always understood that Luther is also helping book or run the locker room, although I can’t recall where I heard that. They have had a lot of good matches on Dark and “play their role”. Billy Gunn is well liked as a trainer. It never hurts to have someone with his success in the organization and mingling with young talent. He should do that as a trainer only though. He is much larger than 98% of the roster and he has far too many wins for what he brings to the AEW table. I’d get rid of his kids pretty quickly which might be his sole motivation for the job. Peter Avalon feels like another guy hired to do multiple things. He should make for a quality cult jobber. Maybe his Pretty Picture stable will suit him better than his Christopher Walken/SNL character. His pageant felt like it was written on the way out the heel tunnel. He is simultaneously under developed and over developed. Leva Bates definitely has more than one job. I loved The Initiative but her character should have been so much more... and the team could have won the “Dark tag titles”...or the regular ones too, why not? Bear Country and JD Drake are each so new. I would make them all elite as soon as they want to sign. ivelisse might be on her way out anyway. If she isn’t dangerous or a locker room cancer she deserves a spot talent-wise. This is going a bit long. I’ll do the rest later, hopefully.

AEW could just decide not to use all the non-contracted guys and that would tighten up the lower card extensively. The fact that they have kept the roster at the size it is may serve as advertising aimed at prospectively unsigned or those currently signed elsewhere. If they cut a bunch of wrestlers off their roster it doesn’t look like the happiest place on earth for any sexy future signings. They probably also do not want to trim the roster during the pandemic. On the outside Tony K sounds like a different kind of boss in the pro wrestling game. They might also just be waiting to have fans back at a healthy capacity before they stop using so many unsigned or lowest tiered performers.

Haters gonna HATE this week’s Dynamite. I figured at the least they would keep -1 off the episode with Mike Tyson. That just seemed like the easiest booking decision tonight. Iron Mike is famous for saying that he wants to “eat your children” ...and other stuff that is much worse. That poor little boy is going to date a LOT of wrestlers. Someone like Jason Hervey used his wrestling connection to punch above his weight class with Missy Hyatt. It is the true path.

There were stips. The AEW champ wrestled someone set up with an angle on a previous show. His opponent is respected world wide and a strong talent dating back to at least 2004. Don Callis even did commentary to help put the storyline. The match itself was very good with strong drama for a non-title match. This wasn’t anything like a nothing match. Adam Page vs Cezar Bononi...was a nothing match.

There is a real zeal for those gothic or monster-type gimmicks. The popularity of The Undertaker has always baffled me. He is the reason I stopped watching wrestling or at least WWF for a significant chunk of high school. Taker picked up a lot of fans with the gimmick the way it was originally presented. He got much better when Foley pushed him but UT was already HOF-level popular. It seems like almost any gimmick that requires kayfabe to make it work is always capturing every type of fan’s curiosity. Having said that I thought Anadon had a lot of potential. This first set of her matches can’t hurt her much. So far she is just a slightly unorthodox work-in-progress. I would put her behind the workers of the division but ahead of the young and green Dark women. I turn 45 this year. I see your Crusher Maedomori reference and add...I have mentioned Ayako Hamada in threads here and DVDVR in AEW threads. After learning she was out of prison I went to look for recent images of her in Mexico. Did anyone predict that she would eventually look exactly like her older sister, Xochtil or “Sochi” for those who used to watch ARSION tapes? They should definitely consider some sort of Dark tourney or beat the champ/5 week challenge.

They need a regular “jobber class” like those mentioned in earlier posts in the thread. AEW doesn’t just throw out matches between rivals every week. Feuding parties don’t need to wrestle every week they are onscreen. That is a much more enjoyable style of booking. AEW should be doing more promos for every feud not involving Moxley or Kingston anyway. Has the tide turned on Abadon already? It felt like there has always been buzz around her announced matches until today. It helps more than it hurts to have most of those names mentioned by others. Spears and Sydal can be used in almost any role wrestlers might play outside of main events. The Young Bucks are maybe the wrestlers I dislike watching the most lately. They wrestle like LOD a lot of the time. Matt Jackson is one of the least believable power wrestlers in wrestling. It still pops the crowd when he does Hawk’s diving clothesline on two opponents at once. So far, They don’t lose fans with their preposterous finishers. I definitely prefer them in multi-man tags. With six, eight or ten wrestlers out there the Bucks have less time to take over for long stretches with their power moves. Maybe they can do some weight training so they at least look in shape. Two skinny little dudes with no physique should be a little more giving. The New Japan Bucks are probably my favourite version of the team.

Unless they hire or assign another booker this is probably what AEW is. So far I am fine with that. I’m not really certain what else they can do to make shows a bit more complimentary to the talent wrestling on it. Originally there was the obvious misdirect when they said AEW would be sports based product. Nobody had ever done that in the US wrestling world. There was no possible way a first time booker could have pulled that off. It works better in Japan. Instead of having Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba the American boom was influenced by two Vinces, Kevin Dunn, Bischoff, Patterson, Pritchard and Heman. People like Gabe Sapolsky tried a sporting approach to wrestling. It took them only two years to really break with that idea for ROH. They had their peaks but most were in the 05-08 years after they distanced from records and the Code of Honor.

I wa brushing my teeth during so I missed the curb stomp. I hope it was the Super Dragon version and not the stupid Seth variation. Somewhere in the “PC” a boy named Gabe is busy breaking shit. John Silver vs Darby Allin is a very EVOLVE circa 2016 kind of match. If only we could get the main eventers from that time in EVOLVE. Gimme Hero vs Sabre next, please. Women blading is something American TV might not tolerate. What would our non-wrestling circle of friends say after seenu get Dreamslam 1 or that LCO vs Ayako Hamada & AKINO? A lot of silly people don’t even want violence in pro wrestling. We should just tell them that everything is done on computers thanks to COVID. Those people can’t decide why they don’t like it. They deserve to be mislead.

It is a little harder on the ears than Original Recipe Dark. As good as Schiavone has been on commentary he is not Excalibur. Tony calls a lot of moves...ambiguously. If you aren’t looking at the screen you would have no idea what he is describing. Paul Wight is good. Unfortunately he isn’t Taz either. Excalibur and Taz have a nice chemistry together. They can switch their tone to fit some jokes, history, match pbp and put over angles all within the same match. Schiavone & Wight need more time before I would actually call them entertaining.

The first episode might get more than the normal amount of Dark talk. Hopefully they don’t have Wight doing standing interviews next to shorter wrestlers...which is theoretically anyone and everyone. I love the Dark formula. They are going to continue to sign more talent than they have feuds or stories to put them in. Other companies are making it an arms race and AEW has to sign new talent continually or WWE will just grab everyone. Don’t hate the playa...or something. I wish they would both leave some experienced talent for MLW, ROH, Impact or Japanese promotions that probably like having non-rookie gaijin. Dark introduces new wrestlers and gives time to establish a wrestler’s style. They SHOULD do more promos or profiles though.

Dusty obviously had leftover enemies or detractors from his booking days. There is no good reason to give Nash the book. Picking him over a retired wrestler and former booker was so...short sighted. I racked my brain like Lex Luger trying to find a more definitive term than short-sighted. Nash has no legs to stand on when it comes to talking about his “mind for the biz”. Without Hogan’s turn the NWO doesn’t have the same influence on business and *the* business overall. It would still be successful for WCW but wrestlers invading promotions is nothing to the larger population. When someone defines a generation like Hogan the new fans will be far more involved when an “American Hero” turns his back on the fans it means sooo much more. Double the importance if the fan still thinks pro wrestling is real.

History can look back on the NWO and say a lot of positive things. What they can’t say is that WCW was internally logically consistent. The announcers would grasp at straws and throw jello at the wall, hoping something would stick and make sense. It sounds like they had everything covered with the introduction. After Hogan cshowed up and Schiavone sent him to hell very little about the NWO made sense. Bischoff was destroyed and came back to be management’s link to the NWO. He had power, then didn’t, then there would be a power struggle, then he had power again and so on. WCW was internally illogical from one segment to the next. They were so frustrating because they WOULD do great touches like the sponsored NWO segments. WCW would have count outs in no-dq matches. They would be careful not to say any other stips just to drop in the unmentioned stip to decide the match. That was in like...1997? The Piper/Hogan feud was all about the unmentioned stipulations. How did he win twice without getting one of those in a title match...and he was the president or commissioner or whatever.

It is probably a good thing that this “trust” has been broken. This layer of trust was tissue paper thin if it gets nit picked to death because AEW does this stunt to sell PPVs. We shouldn’t ever be so trusting of our entertainment. AEW doesn’t want to be a larger Chikara. Chikara had a very strange relationship with its fans. It felt like every unpopular decision Quack made was a personal attack on anyone who disagreed with results or matchmaking. Whenever fans would stop following Chikara it sounded more like a breakup. AEW has some of the same ingredients. With both promotions almost all praise or grievance is usually directed at one person - Mike Quackenbush in Chikara and that DVDVR washout in AEW. The vlog by the Bucks makes everyone look so personable or relatable for fans to follow. They probably are. They still need to sell tickets or buys. We CAN trust AEW more than WWE. The first tries do everything to grow and maintain their fan base. The second group tries to make money by popping a 70something horndog sleaze with a taste for potty humour.

They tout Billy Gunn as a HOFer. Christian was always better than him. Of the three possibilities Angle Is broken down and Punk is just broken with wrestling. Every other guess didn’t adhere to the criteria. It doesn’t matter if it took on a life of its own. Any of the HOFers considered were disqualified. If we are going to take the word of a wrestler in character and an owner/booker who was in sell mode then we deserve to be disappointed. The same thing used to happen in ROH all the time on their board. A surprise would be teased and everyone would ignore the clues. I have read a number of threads and apparently AEW has a history of over promising...so people STILL took a character’s words seriously...and STILL made up their own qualifiers that hinted at the surprise. Most of us probably had a good idea during the week that it was Christian...but disappointment reared it’s ugly face because Christian wasn’t some pie-in-the-Sky impossibility. We guessed the surprise because the clues led us there. If fans don’t like who the booker’s favourite wrestler is...that sounds like their struggle, not AEW’s. Christian’s signing was “game changing’” or however Meltzer put it because he was supposed to be a lock for more WWE work. He just appeared on their big January show. WWE plucked Ben whatshisname after working Dark...and NXT. They tried to sign away everyone from Schiavone to Eddie Kingston and Powerhouse Hobbs. AEW answers by signing Christian. The game changes because bigger stars want to work with the #2 promotion instead of WWE - the unchallenged #1 for almost twenty years. Who said the surprise was a top 5 Attitude Era Worker anyway? Tony K already specified it was one of his faves. If it was him making that claim then you need to consider the source...and decide that Christian is the only answer to the wrestling word puzzle presented to us.

He will probably be Lee Johnson’s first feud and first feud Lee will win. Guys like QT, Brandon Cutler and Billy Gunn are all useful as the first step up the ladder to success. QT, Cutler and Billy never usually win outside of Dark. Why not use the trainers or production staff as vets that put others over? The Gunn Club is a little out of control winning almost every tag they have fought. I guess they can be pushed as a dark horse in that theoretical trios-tournament or titles. Pretty Picture is the heel equvelant.

At this stage JR is literally just a video game announcer. He blurts out marketing slogans, catchphrases and pretty vague wrestling cliches. The volume in his voice also makes him sound like every Wednesday they just use. JR Soundboard. The only benefit he brings is his credibility. His credibility having been earned almost twenty years ago or later. They should really just use him as a guy that does sitdown interviews...which are previously recorded and dutifully edited.

I guess the six man belts will need a JTTS team but dang nabbit Pretty Picture with Ryan Nemeth are fuller than dish water. Peter Avalon, as the librarian, is so much more interesting than whatever he is throwing at the wall this week. Bononi hasn’t done enough to be bad. They should have just thrown him back after his audition and let him quietly by known hoarder, WWE. Had AEW waited Bononi would probably be resigned like the others they released last year.