All Elite Wrestling

[Rah]

AEW needs to better present the talent they have in their women's division before they bring in CHHHarlotte to run roughshod. I love Andrade but let's just send them to AAA and keep everyone happy.

[Coffey]

I genuinely don't know what to do with Andrade anymore. We know he's a great talent, we've seen him be a great talent. But lately, it's been some questionable booking & honestly, some half-assed effort. So, I don't know. Stop trying to have him cut promos on AEW. You gave him a mouthpiece for a reason. They really fucked up his in-ring debut in AEW too, having him go 50/50 with fucking Matt Sydal, whom is a goddamn jobber. That did him ZERO favors. He can still come off as so damn cool, just from his swag. I don't think the answer is putting him back in his mask & trying to make La Sombra happen again. Maybe a stable? I don't know. 

I also think that Charlotte Flair is a tremendous talent. That being said, AEW have a lot of stuff that needs to play out in the women's division. Serena Deeb coming back. Britt Baker being an actual babyface. Thunder Rosa getting a reign. Tay Conti is getting good. Shida is still there. Riho will be coming back. Nyla Rose is still lurking in the weeds. They just brought in Ruby Soho. So it's not like the AEW is clamoring for female talent (or male talent for that matter), they just need to utilize what they have better. I think they'll get there. I think there's money in a Britt Baker Vs. Thunder Rosa feud with Britt as the babyface & Rosa as the heel. 

(I accidentally typed the AEW but I'm leaving it as an homage to The Hitman)

[El-P]

It's way early to write off Andrade. How many matches has he even worked yet ? It took months for Miro to find his footing and the right formula. The issue with Andrade is more social media signs of douchebagery and wide ego while he really has not looked like the guy who had maybe the greatest WWE match ever in NXT.

1 hour ago, Coffey said:

Stop trying to have him cut promos on AEW. You gave him a mouthpiece for a reason.

I guess he wants to talk, and that's how you progress too. But yeah, it's been a bit awkward. At least they got him away from Vickie quick enough and Chavo is pretty cool. But the real test will be the PAC match. If he delivers a killer match, it will eases things up. If he doesn't, against fucking PAC, well, it's gonna get more difficult.

[SteveJRogers]

Just noticed a quirky thing that I hope gets picked up on going forward.  Page and Omega lost the tag belts to FTR literally a year to the day of this year’s All Out, and at the same titled event.

Therefore, The Elite must lose the tag titles EVERY All Out/September PPV going forward

BTW, having not really been watching the week-to-week content, but has Cody addressed the heel turns, and Bullet Club reunions made by his fellow heads of the company?  

I know currently he and his crew are tied up with Black, but seems weird that his Cappos turn heel, and he hasn’t done a damn thing about it (like turn full on heel and join them)!

[KawadaSmile]

Kenny did the one thing that could make me like him, which is dunk on a fool I like even less.

 

[NintendoLogic]

9 minutes ago, SteveJRogers said:

BTW, having not really been watching the week-to-week content, but has Cody addressed the heel turns, and Bullet Club reunions made by his fellow heads of the company?  

I know currently he and his crew are tied up with Black, but seems weird that his Cappos turn heel, and he hasn’t done a damn thing about it (like turn full on heel and join them)!

Why would he do that? The Codyverse exists in its own dimension completely disconnected from AEW as a whole.

[El-P]

OMG. Omega vs Ospreay of course. It has to happen. Wrestle Kingdom, the return of the Cleaner to the land that made him the GOAT. OF COURSE ! DO IT ! 

As far as Cody goes, he was too busy doing stuff like having a baby gender reveal, talking about how the USA are the greatest country in the world and shooting a reality TV show. No time to take part in the hottest thing in pro-wrestling in the last 25 years and the most compelling long term angle ever.

[SteveJRogers]

3 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Why would he do that? The Codyverse exists in its own dimension completely disconnected from AEW as a whole.

Fair enough.  Just for the “work shoot” blend I suppose.  Acknowledging that members of his era BC are running around, etc.

[SteveJRogers]

2 minutes ago, El-P said:

OMG. Omega vs Ospreay of course. It has to happen. Wrestle Kingdom, the return of the Cleaner to the land that made him the GOAT. OF COURSE ! DO IT ! 

As far as Cody goes, he was too busy doing stuff like having a baby gender reveal, talking about how the USA are the greatest country in the world and shooting a reality TV show. No time to take part in the hottest thing in pro-wrestling in the last 25 years and the most compelling long term angle ever.

Like I said, he could turn full on heel and join them Eric Bischoff style, or make cryptic “I’m watching you guys” statements as the overseer answering only to TK to make sure the inmates aren’t running over the joint.

The guy’s The Boss and his main underlings switched “sides” if you will, brought in interlopers from his past, and he hasn’t acknowledged it at all?

[sek69]

It really comes off like Cody's mentally distanced himself from wrestling at this point but seems to think that leaving entirely would make him look bad since he was one of the founders. So we get this weird Codyverse (I like that term) that is only tangentially connected to AEW. The only reference to him I can remember was Black saying he was gonna kick Dustin's head off like he did Cody. 

[KawadaSmile]

8 minutes ago, SteveJRogers said:

The guy’s The Boss and his main underlings switched “sides” if you will, brought in interlopers from his past, and he hasn’t acknowledged it at all?

Cody hanging from the rafters watching The Elite dominate the entire company. Sting even hangs the lampshade during a promo.

[strobogo]

Cody hasn't been associated with any of The Elite since like...the very first episode of the pandemic era. Since then he's formed his own stable independent of them, which itself had a spin off of, and now apparently retired. 

[sek69]

Also I never got the vibe Cody was "the Boss", from the start it was always portrayed that the 4 VPs were on equal standing with only Tony above them.  

[SteveJRogers]

Then again I’m still waiting for Arn to do a “View Never Changes Spinebuster” on Cody but I guess Arn is content to be in a face role since he’s a non-competitor.

[sek69]

2 minutes ago, SteveJRogers said:

Then again I’m still waiting for Arn to do a “View Never Changes Spinebuster” on Cody but I guess Arn is content to be in a face role since he’s a non-competitor.

It always felt weird to me as a JCP fanboy that Cody clearly was trying to relive his dad's career but had an Anderson manage him without turning.  Then again, Cody's made himself so unlikable recently (I heard that the ad for his reality show got booed in the building in Chicago) that Arn turning would probably get a massive babyface pop. 

[strobogo]

Arn turning on Dustin got a huge pop, and so did Flair turning on Sting in 1995. 

[El-P]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

Also I never got the vibe Cody was "the Boss", from the start it was always portrayed that the 4 VPs were on equal standing with only Tony above them.  

Not only that, but when it comes down to it, the company is called All Elite Wrestling. And the Elite was always Omega & the Bucks. Omega was the one guy Tony wanted to build his company around with Jericho (because of the Tokyo Dome match) and CM Punk. The vision of the company was always gonna be the one of the Elite, no matter how good Cody's stuff could be (3 vs 1). And it was really good at first *as long as the Elite did not push themselves at the top of the cards*. But Cody arguably peaked with the Dustin match, although he was essential getting over Darby and then Brodie Lee (both of which carried the TNT title, which he made important) and has been willingly killed to get over Malakai Black.

But there has absolutely been a disconnect during the pandemic, while the Elite finally pushed themselves at the top of the card, finally, and that's when the company got more and more hype after a period of relative cool down. A lot of people apparently did not see it coming, but from watching them in NJPW, I had zero doubt once Omega & the Bucks would position themselves at the top, that's when shit was gonna really pick up, and it did (with the help of the forbidden door opening, which brought Callis into the fold, cool interpromotional matches on TV and other exciting things to look forward too). That's when Cody really went off into other ventures, and everyone here remember the hot debates about the Real TV show which does not fit the image of the promotion (why am I not surprised if the add has been booed by this crowd?)

Honestly I do think that if all this leads to a Cody heel turn and we really get the evil douchebag Cody with bitchy Brandi at his side like in 2017 or so, it could be pretty awesome. But it could also lead to Cody just slowly vanishing out of the picture (especially if the other ventures end up successful), which would be a bittersweet conclusion to the story.

[Ricky Jackson]

Cody seemed to have the wrestling world in the palm of his hand in the early days of AEW and then...he didn't. Hard to say what would've happened without the pandemic taking away crowds and probably changing some booking plans (stuff like the original Blood and Guts and who knows what else). At some point his priorities changed and here we are.

Plus the dumb tattoo 

[SteveJRogers]

1 hour ago, KawadaSmile said:

Cody hanging from the rafters watching The Elite dominate the entire company. Sting even hangs the lampshade during a promo.

Suddenly thinking of a JCP 1985 where the “Hard Times” promo is shouted at Ric from the rafters of an arena at a house show that later would be shown on TV.

[Coffey]

Now that they brought in Adam Cole, I think The Elite would be better off kicking some of their members to the curb. Namely The Good Brothers, Cutler & Nakazawa. I'm indifferent on Don Callis, but if it were just Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks & Adam Cole, I have to think that makes them look a lot stronger. 

[NotJayTabb]

People refer to QT Marshall as Cody's "Brother Bruti", but at least Marshall contributes by training guys. Cutler and Nakazawa aren't pushed acts at least, but the Good Brothers are the most egregiously pushed act on a ratio of wins/screentime vs talent/overness.

[El-P]

15 minutes ago, Coffey said:

Now that they brought in Adam Cole, I think The Elite would be better off kicking some of their members to the curb. Namely The Good Brothers, Cutler & Nakazawa. I'm indifferent on Don Callis, but if it were just Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks & Adam Cole, I have to think that makes them look a lot stronger. 

First, the Good Brothers are good pro-wrestlers. I have no idea where the ridiculous idea that they suck comes from. Anyone paying any attention remotely can see they've been part of a ton of really good to legit great multi-men tag matches this year, with different kind of opponents, and always work well with everyone. Gallows has the best uppercuts this side of the Great Kabuki. Just watching him go up for a suplex shows how "light" he must be to work with too. He had a super fun big hoss match with Joe Doering on IMPACT. I had to put that out there because I'm so tired of reading bullshit about how they supposedly suck. They are not *great* workers, they are super solid workers who work well with everybody and that's a plus. And they serve their purpose as lower tier members of the group for beatdowns and getting thrown around while Omega is fleeing off. So there. And really it took a bit of time for them to win me over, as I was not familiar with either their NJ work when they showed up in IMPACT and I have not watched their WWE stuff either apart from the Taker match. Crazy story too how they re-signed with WWE instead of going to AEW as the Elite had hoped at first (along with AJ), then got fired and missed their shot with the company. Signing with IMPACT everybody was like LOLGoodBrothers, but from there through the forbidden door they still manage to get to AEW but at the time where things really heats up and in the end, they are part of the hottest angle and PPV of the last 25 years and are in the picture for the debut of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson. I say well done Good Brothers ! 

Nakazawa is mostly a backstage guy and I agree he doesn't need the camera time at this point. Cutler has been awesome in this role, he's funny as hell. Keep him in the picture.

[Coffey]

I don't feel like anything you said makes my statement untrue. They would just be better without those guys.

[El-P]

I think I just wanted to profess my appreciation for the Good Brothers and how fascinating their story is. 

I mean, the whole Elite stuff comes from the Bullet Club, and it's kinda fun to have this link back to NJPW in the early/mid 10's. The only big time missing part would be AJ, and to a lesser extent (because he was never as big) Prince Devitt. That would be cool as hell too. But of course the Bucks/Omega/Cole managed by Callis would certainly be enough and great on its own. I sure hope we get that Young Bucks vs Good Brothers match eventually too. Having it in IMPACT would be even better.

[MoS]

The idea that the Good Brothers suck comes from the fact that they suck hard. There has not been a single match in AEW which has not been dragged down by their useless asses. They also get zero reaction when they walk out on their own, so they are also unover as fuck. Thank God they didn't sign up for AEW initially and chose to fuck over their friends. Them being a featured act from the first show like the original plan was would have ensured that the show sank immediately.