All Elite Wrestling

[KawadaSmile]

3 hours ago, Coffey said:

AEW needs a Bam Bam Bigelow. A big man (that works big) that's a good base, that is heel, that can squash little guys whom you have to topple to move to the main event. Brody King might work but he's stuck in the House of Black, which might not even be a detriment since in ECW, Bigelow was in the Triple Threat.

Like, Brody King versus Darby Allin would slap.

At this point I am BEGGING Tony Khan to sign Cesaro.

2 hours ago, Matt D said:

Is Miro big enough?

He honestly had the last GREAT title reign in AEW if we are into spicy hot takes. He certainly worked bigger than he looked.

[Migs]

5 hours ago, Coffey said:

Like, Brody King versus Darby Allin would slap.

That match has happened on the indies and did indeed slap. Would probably be better now with both guys having a few more years experience.

King works nicely in such a role too, because he's a good solo worker who's really excellent as the power guy in six man tags. So he can be built up, do a job, then rebuild himself being the cool badass in trios matches.

[The Thread Killer]

On 5/24/2022 at 5:07 AM, El-P said:

The one BIG mistake as far as this PPV goes, is nothing for FTR. Like, really ? They are the most over they've even been, they come off that incredible match against the Briscoes followed by beating the Young Bucks on TV, and... nothing on the PPV ? That's quite a big booking flub, until they get a last minute match after this week, but the card seems full already and a three day "build" is not exactly what you'd want for your most over tag team in the company. Yep, that one I don't get at all, lack of focus really shows here. No team is the three-way is as over as FTR (maybe Keith Lee is ?). Jake Hager is on the PPV by sheer force of being attached to Jericho. Ditto 2.0 (who are fun and all, but....). Ruby Soho, who's pretty cold, is gonna be on the final of the Owen tournament. Fuck, can't they get FTR vs reDragons somewhere quickly ?

I agree with you again. We’ve been agreeing a lot more lately. Maybe we should reconsider our relationship, maybe we could get a place together or something, I dunno I’m just throwing it out there.

In all seriousness…yes. FTR are red hot right now, it’s kind of crazy to me that as of today at least, they’re not on this PPV. I know a lot of people are speculating that Kyle O’Reilly might actually make it into the finals of the Owen tournament, so I can see why they are not going to book FTR vs. ReDragon. If they are going to do that match, I would like to see it built up properly and maybe even be an ongoing angle. But I don’t see why they couldn’t run the FTR versus Roppongi Vice match on the PPV. Or hell, at the very least throw them into the world tag team title match and make it a fatal four-way. As much as I generally loathe multi-team tag matches…At least give FTR something. They are too good and too hot right now to be left off a major pay-per-view.

In the overall picture, I have a bit of an issue with the way the Tag Team division has been booked in AEW. I love that they treat the titles with respect and give the matches the amount of time and attention they deserve. Much better than any other league I know of. But on the flipside, they have a ton of great talent that never gets showcased properly. Seriously, when was the last time Santana & Ortiz had a normal tag team match on TV? Private Party have been stuck with Matt Hardy and Andrade for way too long. They have a ton of talent that barely ever gets to wrestle on TV and that is a real shame.

I am really hoping that ROH ends up getting a TV deal somewhere and that a lot of this AEW talent who isn’t getting the time they need and up there.

[El-P]

54 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

I am really hoping that ROH ends up getting a TV deal somewhere and that a lot of this AEW talent who isn’t getting the time they need and up there.

I think this whole ROH thingy is a totally an elaborate joke on Brian Cage. The guy thought he was actually gonna get featured after all. 

I dunno. I'm already half-way burned out. Don't need more weekly TV in my regime honestly. If that happened, TK would HAVE TO delegate, big time.

[MoS]

I haven't had the time to watch Dynamite, but completely agreed in re FTR with both Jerome and Dave. They are red hot, and Bald might be the best US wrestler singles or tag right now. I was honestly thinking that some heel team would beat Jurassic Express just to keep the belt warm for FTR to win them. I am not entirely sure that I would use Starks and Hobbs for that purpose though: as good as FTR are, I would argue that Starks and Hobbs are also very good, definitely too good to be used as transitional champs to help kickstart another team's reign. 

[Stiva]

It also feels like Starks and Hobbs are starting to figure it all out, too. Starks, in particular, is really getting over. I'd give them a tag run and give Starks plenty of promo time.

[Matt D]

48 minutes ago, MoS said:

I haven't had the time to watch Dynamite, but completely agreed in re FTR with both Jerome and Dave. They are red hot, and Bald might be the best US wrestler singles or tag right now. I was honestly thinking that some heel team would beat Jurassic Express just to keep the belt warm for FTR to win them. I am not entirely sure that I would use Starks and Hobbs for that purpose though: as good as FTR are, I would argue that Starks and Hobbs are also very good, definitely too good to be used as transitional champs to help kickstart another team's reign. 

There are still relatively few historical title reigns in general for AEW. I think it helps a guy like Hobbs more than hurts him in the medium term to say he was tag champ at one point even if it's a short reign.

[Migs]

1 hour ago, Matt D said:

There are still relatively few historical title reigns in general for AEW. I think it helps a guy like Hobbs more than hurts him in the medium term to say he was tag champ at one point even if it's a short reign.

I actually think they need more short reigns. It's actively hurting the titles in a sense, because the early defenses are so obviously not leading to title changes. They've broken the pattern a little bit with the TNT, but there's really not a problem with breaking up long title reigns with some transitional ones.

[sek69]

Yeah but when they did that with the TNT title people started screaming they "ruined" the title so you can't win either way it seems. 

[Jmare007]

I don't know, feels like the biggest mistake Khan did was taking the TNT Title away from Miro, who was doing an awesome job establishing that belt. I'm not sure if him filmimg that TV pilot that got picked up was a reason for him losing the strap but man, AEW lost one of their best segments of weekly TV and never coming close to getting it back hurt.

[Embrodak]

Even AEW diehards don’t seem excited for this PPV. Khan is crazy if he doesn’t put the title on Punk, though. I think we can all agree heel Punk is best Punk, but diluted face Punk doing Bret Hart homages is still miles better than Page.

[SirEdger]

1 hour ago, Jmare007 said:

I don't know, feels like the biggest mistake Khan did was taking the TNT Title away from Miro, who was doing an awesome job establishing that belt. I'm not sure if him filmimg that TV pilot that got picked up was a reason for him losing the strap but man, AEW lost one of their best segments of weekly TV and never coming close to getting it back hurt.

To my knowledge, Miro was also dealing with an injury, which is mostly why he dropped the title. But Miro absolutely was the best TNT champ at the time and I hope we can see him back soon in the thick of things.

[sek69]

1 minute ago, SirEdger said:

To my knowledge, Miro was also dealing with an injury, which is mostly why he dropped the title. But Miro absolutely was the best TNT champ at the time and I hope we can see him back soon in the thick of things.

Yeah he had a bad hamstring injury, I suppose God took the feud personally and did a Horsemen beatdown on him. 

[Timbo Slice]

Title changes are a matter of whoever the challenger is. Establishing long reigns for the sake of it doesn’t really do anyone any good. To credibly build threats each time out is one of the toughest things to do in a promotion. 

[NintendoLogic]

The way I see it, heel title reigns should always have a clearly defined endpoint in mind from the get-go because they should only be done with the goal of getting someone over as a strong babyface champion. Babyface title reigns can continue indefinitely. One of the advantages of having an over babyface champion is that not every challenger needs to be a credible threat to win the title. A loathsome heel challenger getting his comeuppance can be enough to build a title program around.

[El-P]

If I were to rate the AEW World title reign thus far, it would go like this : Omega > Jericho > Page > Mox

So yep, the heel reigns have been better in term of engagement to me. Omega being way ahead of everyone else, because he had everything, the great arc, the great TV matches, the great PPV matches, the great promos with Callis, the awesome presentation. Jericho was the most important to make the title mean something from the get go, and when he finally got beat and passed it away that was also key in making the title, and Jericho delivered his  best work in the company, and his best in years at this time. Page has the great matches. Less in term of great feuds but still some really strong promos in the mix, but was a bit overshadowed by the MJF feuds at the same time. Mox was the second link in the chain to make the title mean something, and had the image of the guy who left WWE and told them to fuck off. I don't remember very clearly the best matches tbh, the most striking moment was the loss to Omega with the awesome Callis turn and "See you on IMPACT wrestling !" promo.

The thing is, people have been so ingrained with WWE mentality for so long that it's kinda hard to re-invent what the ace of an alternative promotion should be. They have done a great job making each title reigns important and also distinct thus far. You can line up up-coming reigns too (CM Punk, probably MJF at one point, Danielson maybe but that's not a given considering what his goals are, and then eventually I would think Darby will get there. Adam Cole maybe at one point, who knows. Keith Lee is too early to tell, but he has the potential too. Oh, and that Wardlow fellow, although that one can wait... no really, no urge... really), not to mention the fact someone at some point will end up being a two time champ that would actually be something in itself (as opposed to being a 17 times champ like in WWE). Page obviously is gonna that guy too.

In three years, we can remember and identify very clearly each reign. Only four of them. That's a good thing, and I hope they keep on this path.

The TNT title was pretty great. And then Sammy got the belt. And lost it. And got it back. And lost it... I wouldn't say the title is damaged (way too early, bumps in the road happen), but the idea of it not being a secondary title is really not working anymore. Not since Miro had it.

The TBS belt around Jade on the other hand, feels like the TV belt in ECW when Shane Douglas had it : equal to the world title. Question is, whatever happens when she eventually loses it. 

[sek69]

TK on Twitter with the less-than-subtle dunking on how stupid it is to run a stadium show against UFC during FIght Week is *chef's kiss*

I love that after all these years WWE's main competition is run by a DVDVR shitposter.

[Stiva]

Mox wasn’t helped by the MJF feud but I actually dug the empty arena brawls with your Hagers and Brodies and then topped off with the Kingston feud and match. Considering the circumstances, I thought he did well as the babyface champion who everyone else orbited.

[MoS]

 

 

[El-P]

This is pretty awesome. Damn, Jade putting in the work with Danielson could pay off in something spectacular. Loved Danielson's laugh after "I don't trust myself with that". (oh, did not see the entire video. Oh yeah, this is great stuff.)

[MoS]

LMAO at Britt asking "What's Mussolini?" That was a joke, right? Like, do they not teach fascism and Nazism in American schools?

LM

[MoS]

Okay, having seen how poor Britt was introduced as a "gimmick" that is only half-heartedly accepted by Punk and Danielson, this was clearly scripted, and kudos to Britt for playing the ignorant person absolutely perfectly, she was great. She is very charismatic and awesome, fuck the haters, we are lucky to have her on our side!!

[Flyin' Brian]

That’s great

[Coffey]

On 5/27/2022 at 4:51 AM, El-P said:

Page has the great matches.

He really does, yet every time he goes out there & has another banger, for whatever reason, I'm always surprised. Like, I guess I just haven't acknowledged him as a better-than-average worker in my mind's eye yet still or something.

My issue with Page is I don't really see him as a main eventer & when he's not actively wrestling, like when he's doing anything else, he bores me to tears. 

[Dav'oh]

"Straight Edge" my Aunt Fanny's fanny. Motherfucker drinks coffee, a mood-and-mind-altering drug of dependence