All Elite Wrestling

[sek69]

58 minutes ago, C.S. said:

In one breath, you shit-talk and dismiss Shawn Spears, sarcastically referring to him by his WWE name.

I've noticed something that is starting to grow in wrestling internet circles: we're going from seeing AEW as a panacea where misused WWE talent can finally prove their worth to mocking said talent by using their WWE name as proof they are worthless pieces of shit.

I can't wait for the Great Miro or whatever to debut on TNT and then read tons of people complaining AEW is wasting time with that jobber Rusev.

[C.S.]

37 minutes ago, sek69 said:

I can't wait for the Great Miro or whatever to debut on TNT and then read tons of people complaining AEW is wasting time with that jobber Rusev.

If he really does call himself The Great Miro, he deserves to be a jobber.

[El-P]

2 hours ago, C.S. said:

In one breath, you shit-talk and dismiss Shawn Spears, sarcastically referring to him by his WWE name.

In the other breath, you want an appearance by fucking Carlito. 

Word.

Carlito ? For fuck's sake, have a little dignity. No. But Rusev & Lana showing up sometime by surprise on AEW TV/PPV would be cool as hell.

[NintendoLogic]

You guys are being ridiculous. "How DARE you refer to Shawn Spears by his slave name!" Tye Dillinger is by far the name he's best known as, and the onus is on him to accomplish something of note to escape that shadow. If Jon Moxley had done fuck-all since leaving WWE except appear in a geek battle royal, he'd still be known mainly as Dean Ambrose.

[sek69]

4 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

You guys are being ridiculous. "How DARE you refer to Shawn Spears by his slave name!" Tye Dillinger is by far the name he's best known as, and the onus is on him to accomplish something of note to escape that shadow. If Jon Moxley had done fuck-all since leaving WWE except appear in a geek battle royal, he'd still be known mainly as Dean Ambrose.

 

Right.....because the name Dean Ambrose wasn't the name he was far  better known as, and he wasn't being bagged on as "Prop Comic Dean Ambrose" in WWE.  

Dean's an internet hero because he said "fuck the man" and went to the holy land of New Japan, while Shawn Spears is apparently sentenced to serve a life of geekdom because he committed the sin of being a midcard act that got over when he wasn't supposed to. Also because he's Cody's friend I guess?  It seems like there's a sense of him getting something he doesn't "deserve", like how dare this guy get put in an angle with Cody when he hasn't even worked an indy show yet! 

[Herodes]

Coming soon to AEW....the redemption of Justin Rocheleau formerly known by his slave name Bam Neeley who will show the world his true potential.

Fans are free to call him “Roche”.

[Coffey]

22 hours ago, C.S. said:

In one breath, you shit-talk and dismiss Shawn Spears, sarcastically referring to him by his WWE name.

In the other breath, you want an appearance by fucking Carlito. 

100% genuinely didn't even know what his new gimmick name was. But even so, who gives a fuck? More people know him as Tye Dillinger. It'll take awhile to get used to, like Jon Moxley, and he had used that name previously.

The point being that Carlito has been away for a long time, like Awesome Kong, so it would be a nice surprise. Tye was just in WWE & barely made it to the main roster. It's not shit-talking someone to refer to them as the name you know them by... 

[C.S.]

7 hours ago, Coffey said:

The point being that Carlito has been away for a long time, like Awesome Kong, so it would be a nice surprise.

Coffey = PWO's biggest Carlito fan?

I mean, I didn't mind him or anything, but he is hardly the kind of "surprise" AEW should be aiming for IMO. 

[Coffey]

He's better than SHAWN SPEARS.

[sek69]

I know I sound like the biggest Shawn Spears fanboy in this thread, but what did he ever do to warrant such hate? Dude was a stable hand forever to the point WWE wanted him to be the player coach to work with the noobs until he ended up with a gimmick that got over with the Full Sail crowd. People are acting like AEW is going to make him the champ when they're just acting on the most natural feud they can do with him, especially when Cody isn't going to be in the title picture immediately and would need something to do. 

Like it or not, part of what AEW (or any company looking to be competition) is going to need to do is take some of the underused WWE midcard types and give them the chance to prove themselves. Obviously the key is to not go full TNA and have all your main eventers be WWE cast-offs, but there is a balance than can be struck here.

[Tim Evans]

Have they actually explained the Spears/cody stuff on the AEW hype videos? I can't imagine anyone but the most hardcore of hardcore fans that watched OVW knowing that they teamed when Cody was starting. It's gotta be hard to really get it without owning the footage. Spears being over at Full sail is really overstated. The chant was over. He got over for a while because he was there forever.

Bringing in WWE midcard guys is fine but they have to start slow. TNA did it when they were already an established promotion. I hope they wait at least a year before bringing guys like Rusev, Harper and whoever gets released from the prison in.

[Migs]

7 hours ago, Tim Evans said:

Have they actually explained the Spears/cody stuff on the AEW hype videos? I can't imagine anyone but the most hardcore of hardcore fans that watched OVW knowing that they teamed when Cody was starting. It's gotta be hard to really get it without owning the footage. Spears being over at Full sail is really overstated. The chant was over. He got over for a while because he was there forever.

They have talked a little bit about their relationship, and Cody has called him a "good hand." I presume they're going to start building up the match with promos in short order that will go more into the back story.

[Ricky Jackson]

Dillinger's feud with Eric Young in 16-17 was really good, built well, and culminated in satisfying cage match blow off. He was more than just a chant that got over. This is his biggest push yet and he's going to put everything thing he has into the feud with Cody.(who is at a career peak, so he's going to put his all into the feud as well) 

[C.S.]

9 hours ago, Tim Evans said:

Have they actually explained the Spears/cody stuff on the AEW hype videos? 

Does it matter if they have?

Spears knocking the shit out of Cody with a chair is reason enough for a feud. If they introduce the backstory later, great. If not, it doesn't matter because all of that happened in another company anyway.

Sometimes people like to over-complicate pro wrestling for no reason (I'm not saying you - just in general). Yes, I like layered complex angles as much as the next guy, but simple also works too.

With that said, I fully expect them to delve into the whys and hows. They've already started that with the "good hand" stuff. 

11 hours ago, Coffey said:

He's better than SHAWN SPEARS.

Maybe 2004 Carlito was better than 2019 Shawn Spears.

Unfortunately for Carlos, Carlito, Primo, Epico, and Coffey Colon, we're no longer in 2004.

[NintendoLogic]

Dillinger was a guy who got over in NXT with a silly catchphrase and whose in-ring career peaked with pretty good match against Bobby Roode at that one Takeover. None of that exactly screams "diamond in the rough." The star-making system in WWE may be broken, but looking at "misused" talent given the chance to spread their wings and show what they're capable of, there have been far more Aron Rexes than Jon Moxleys. Also, there wouldn't be nearly as much hate if Spears had simply jumped Cody after the Allin match and laid him out. I'd very much prefer no chairs to the head under any circumstances, but at the very least they need to be limited to super-hot main event angles for major shows. So either AEW is rocketing a WWE prelim guy to a main event position or they used an unprotected chairshot to heat up a midcard angle.

[C.S.]

3 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

So either AEW is rocketing a WWE prelim guy to a main event position or they used an unprotected chairshot to heat up a midcard angle.

The latter IMO.

From another thread:

On 7/2/2019 at 10:21 AM, C.S. said:

Strange comment, and strange backlash against Spears in general IMO. Nothing so far indicates that Spears is anything higher than midcard.

So far, Cody has faced Dustin (old veteran going for "one last ride"), Darby Allin (unknown quantity as far as AEW is concerned, but probably not a main eventer yet), and will be facing Spears (pre-show wrestler at DoN). 

Obviously, Cody isn't being programmed with top guys here, so to assume Spears is suddenly one makes no sense to me.

The unprotected chairshot obviously cannot be defended and should not be - no matter where this match/feud is on the card.

[El-P]

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

Sometimes people like to over-complicate pro wrestling for no reason (I'm not saying you - just in general). Yes, I like layered complex angles as much as the next guy, but simple also works too.

With that said, I fully expect them to delve into the whys and hows. They've already started that with the "good hand" stuff. 

Yep. Cody vs Dustin feud : one promo each on Youtube a few weeks before Double or Nothing. It kinda worked out allright. Until they have TV, that's how AEW will operate. Some big angles on the shows and then promos on "Road to" format and maybe some on BTE too.

[joeg]

The thing I like about Cody is everything he's involved in feels like it matters. I can't say the same about anybody else in wrestling right now. 

[Alucard]

7 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Dillinger was a guy who got over in NXT with a silly catchphrase and whose in-ring career peaked with pretty good match against Bobby Roode at that one Takeover. None of that exactly screams "diamond in the rough." The star-making system in WWE may be broken, but looking at "misused" talent given the chance to spread their wings and show what they're capable of, there have been far more Aron Rexes than Jon Moxleys.

100% this. That Roode match was the one match of his I ever liked. Everything else I've seen from him just leaves me at, of all guys to sign/push, why this guy.

[Stiva]

He'll be a solid hand up and down the card for a few years, at least. Can work heel or face and is a good tag worker so I understand why they've taken him on. Especially when you consider that he's tight with Cody. I'm not too sure about him jumping immediately into a big program with Cody either but it was one hell of a way to debut the guy so I'm willing to go with it. It's also a case where AEWs promo vids might actually come in handy where they can have him cut an edited promo ala Dustin's to explain the motivation and history in a compelling way.

[C.S.]

To me, it's refreshing that a guy like Spears is being used, has a storyline, etc. How often have we been able to say that about any WWE midcarder since the Attitude Era? Like Spears or not, AEW is getting the most out of its investment. That doesn't mean he's an automatic main eventer - he obviously has not been positioned as that - but based on the responses in this thread, people are so used to midcarders meaning absolutely nothing that the idea of one getting a storyline has everyone reading more into it than they should because it's such a foreign concept in 2019. Well, this is the way wrestling should be - the way it used to be - where even a Gangrel type meant something and could contribute positively to the show while still never being the next Stone Cold, Rock, etc.

[SirEdger]

I agree here. Not all WWE cast-offs that AEW can pick needs to be positioned at the top of the card. The key thing is that if they are good hands to work with, use them as such. Sometimes they'll be in key angles, sometimes not. I don't think any prospective signings believe that they'll be contending for the AEW World title at the end of the day.

[C.S.]

Exactly. And let's say Spears does somehow "break out" and become super popular in AEW, the company will be in a position to capitalize on that because the audience was never, ever conditioned to believe that he's a geek who doesn't matter. The opposite of WWE's approach, basically. 

We're already seeing that pay off with someone like MJF, who is making himself a major star right before our very eyes.

[joeg]

MJF is getting over in spite of the booking. On both shows so far he's been put in throw away multi man matches working with some absolute garbage  and he's still managed to get over. He's just that good. 

[El-P]

2 hours ago, joeg said:

MJF is getting over in spite of the booking. 

You mean the booking that had him interrupt Bret Hart at Double or Nothing to showcase his great promo ability ?

As far as the matches go, they are still in the process of introducing their roster, they can't book a bunch of 1-1 matches up and down the cards yet.