All Elite Wrestling

[Migs]

Where do we think the Bucks are teasing going for an overseas trip? AAA? China?

[peachchaos]

Mexico wouldn't exactly be "overseas" and I can't imagine anyone caring if they went there anyway. Have they done Europe lately? 

[SirEdger]

I think they worked an RPW-UK event last year with Kenny Omega but I could be messing up the dates.

[Migs]

Meltzer seems to think AAA to further the feud with the Lucha Bros. We'll find out soon enough, I guess.

[aaeo_]

8 hours ago, peachchaos said:

Mexico wouldn't exactly be "overseas" and I can't imagine anyone caring if they went there anyway. Have they done Europe lately? 

Maybe they can get H del Tirantes for Double or Nothing.

[Jmare007]

This was a give, but AJ re-signed with WWE.

 

 

[Stiva]

Allie, of Impact, has signed on. Pretty solid pick-up, in my opinion. A solid worker for the Women's Division who I've enjoyed as a babyface over the past year or so. The heel stuff with Su Yung was a bit hokey but she should still be a good worker for their Women's Division.

[El-P]

Cool signing. Honestly, the Su-Yung storyline with Dark Allie was going nowhere at this point, but she is very solid and charismatic and can work both side of the fence too.

[Mrzfn]

What I like best about the Allie signing is that she's got a good range of character. Shrill Vickie Guerrero type? Check, as a wrestler and a manager. Act like a doe eyed newbie despite being a 10 year vet? Check. Be a weird bunny demon? Yup, she pulled that off too.

[SomethingSavage]

Naive, innocent Allie in Impact was one of the best white-meat babyfaces in wrestling. Anyone disappointed about how Bailey's character was handled when she moved up to the main roster should love Allie from that era.

Stoked to hear she's on board.

[El-P]

So, Allie was on BTE already, and there's tension between her and Brandi.

Cody doing an entire movie monologue was kinda Goldustian, if you catch my drift. How cool would it be to see Dustin landing in AEW for a last stint ?

They teased Marty Scurll as a ghost...

The Librarian is gonna be the biggest unveiling since the Narcissist.

Micheal Nakazawa ? Sorry, couldn't help it. This guy is gonna be OVER at Double or NOthing, is nothing else.

"Dollar Store Tom Selleck". MJF is the best, between this and his MLW stuff, he's already the best old-school douchebag heel today.

[Downend2005]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2829326-aew-signs-wwe-hall-of-famer-jim-ross-to-groundbreaking-3-year-contract

So the initial rumours of both Jim Ross and Chris Jericho’s involvement with a new promotion last year turned out to be true then.

[El-P]

I hope he's only working backstage. As much as Corny & Schiavone have been fun announcing modern matches, I don't want current JR to be the voice the the brand new, non-WWE, US pro-wrestling product, especially considering some of his NJ work.

[Downend2005]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

I hope he's only working backstage. As much as Corny & Schiavone have been fun announcing modern matches, I don't want current JR to be the voice the the brand new, non-WWE, US pro-wrestling product, especially considering some of his NJ work.

By all accounts it’s him, Excalibur and Alex Marvez behind the booth.

I’m not entirely sure if JR would be a huge benefit backstage nowadays either.

[sek69]

JR was probably the best Talent Relations guy WWE had,  at least until HHH ended up remaking the position when he took over. 

Announcing, eeeh. I can see him being more invested in this this than he was in New Japan so that should help. Also Excalibur is really good so maybe he can do more of the heavy lifting, but will JR be able to set aside his ego to allow that? (not exactly a diss on JR, anyone seen at the top of their profession at one point would normally have issues in a role where they weren't the lead guy). 

Also as far as I know Marvez has no experience announcing, so that could go either way as well.

[C.S.]

The whole masked Excalibur thing still sounds cheesy as hell to me for a commentator, but the star power and sterling reputation of J.R. should hopefully counteract any bad impressions Arthur's lost Knight of the Roundtable will bring to new fans.

I am rooting for Alex Marvez, simply because he was my Meltzer years before I knew about the dirt sheets. He wrote an awesome "insider" column in the paper. Maybe all of the scoops originated with Big Dave - who knows? - but it was still mind-blowing for little 13-year-old me.

[El-P]

35 minutes ago, C.S. said:

The whole masked Excalibur thing still sounds cheesy as hell to me for a commentator,

Except he's really good, and really, when the fuck did mask got cheesy for pro-fucking-wrestling ? Seriously now. Jerry the King Lawler and his ridiculous crown and awful color scheme tights ? Jesse Ventura and his crazy hair and outfits ? But a guy in a mask is cheesy ? Da fuck.

[SomethingSavage]

Excalibur is the man.

Anyone who is turned away from a pro wrestling show in 2019, based solely on a guy wearing a mask, is likely looking for a reason to tune out. Search hard enough & you'll find it. The dude's work is everything you could want though - he's legitimately knowledgeable, passionate, witty, and willing to go along with whatever to enhance the experience.

The JR of 2019 isn't the Jim Ross of yesteryear. Hell, the JR of 2009 WWE wasn't the Jim Ross of yesteryear. His exuberance and his passion created all kinds of iconic calls at one time, but the magic is gone. I'm not saying he's useless by any means, but I don't believe for a second he's the best fit for the voice of a new company at this stage.

[C.S.]

43 minutes ago, El-P said:

Except he's really good, and really, when the fuck did mask got cheesy for pro-fucking-wrestling ? Seriously now. Jerry the King Lawler and his ridiculous crown and awful color scheme tights ? Jesse Ventura and his crazy hair and outfits ? But a guy in a mask is cheesy ? Da fuck.

They're two legends. Who the fuck is Excalibur? This isn't Rey Mysterio we're talking about here! (Pretending for a second that Rey would be an awesome commentator, which maybe he would be, but I doubt it.)

But yes, the masked commentator won't make or break the show for anyone, as @SomethingSavage pointed out, unless they're looking for something to make or break the show for them.

However, J.R. as a familiar and comforting face and voice should not be discounted. His credibility is second-to-none. The J.R. of 1997 wasn't the J.R. of 1992, and that didn't matter either.

[El-P]

9 minutes ago, C.S. said:

They're two legends. Who the fuck is Excalibur? 

This applies to 90% of AEW's roster as far as mainstream knowledge goes, so what is the big issue to begin with ? And really, the fact they are two legends has nothing to do with anything. It's pro-wrestling. A masked guy is as pro-wrestling as pro-wrestling can be.

9 minutes ago, C.S. said:

The J.R. of 1997 wasn't the J.R. of 1992, and that didn't matter either.

Well, JR was arguably still at his peak during his best years in WWF. He's always been an up and down guys anyway. Sucked in UWF, terrific in Crockett, annoying as fuck in WCW when Watts was in, great in WWF at points, annoying in WWF at other points. But when you pass the 00's, JR really wasn't the same. His work in NJ was pretty ok to bad. I dunno, I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt of course, but when I watch Being the Elite, I don't feel JR is the guy to understand the product for this generation.

[C.S.]

4 minutes ago, El-P said:

but when I watch Being the Elite, I don't feel JR is the guy to understand the product for this generation.

J.R. isn't the guy to get the goofy stuff over. (Maybe that's Excalibur? I dunno...) But what J.R. absolutely excels in is a sports-like presentation, which I have to imagine kinda matters to the owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

[El-P]

Well, comparing Excalibur and JR's work with the New Japan product, which is the best sports-like presentation product today, Excalibur murders JR seven ways to Sunday. JR was great at times 25 years ago. He hasn't been great since the late 90's. He's been actively bad regularly at points. So yeah, I'm doubtful. As much as I have fun listening to Corny and Schiavone in MLW, I'm not convinced JR would do the best job in AEW.

[C.S.]

Let's face it: J.R. probably doesn't care about NJPW. I could wildly speculate a million reasons why, but that's pointless.

He'll likely be much more comfortable on his "home turf," so to speak.

I wish AEW had managed to get Mauro Ranallo. I know he has his detractors here, but I'm not one of them, and he'd kill in a sports presentation.

[El-P]

Just now, C.S. said:

He'll likely be much more comfortable on his "home turf," so to speak.

Probably, just as working with/for Cody sounds like much more comfortable for many reasons.

Damn, I'm glad they didn't get Ranallo. I've watched only a bunch of Takeovers with him, and by the end I wanted to throw a brick through my screen... 

[SomethingSavage]

Mauro is awful. His energy & excitement could almost be infectious, if it weren't swimming in hip-hop lyrics and pop culture references all the time.

No, really. Every. Single. Time. He. Speaks.

I used to love JR. Dude's words were dripping with passion at one point. And tbf, he was much better until much later than I remembered. I randomly went through a phase where i was watching every gimmick match type (HiaC, TLC, etc.) a few years back, and JR was sooo essential in getting those things over early on. I don't think that gets talked up enough.

Seriously. Pick a random TLC - like the one from that Raw Roulette show in '02 - and yeah. It's a super fun match. But JR totally elevates that whole situation several levels. He single-handedly puts over the risks & dangers of the fight, as well as the grit & durability of the participants. It's wild how natural and second nature it all seems for him, really.

Compare JR on a random Raw like that to the best work of Cole's career, and I swear to God. It's not even close. There isn't a single memorable call or historical moment from Cole in the last 2 decades that measures up to Jim Ross on a weekly basis from that period. And hey. No knock on Cole. The guy's passable. He does the job. But he's no JR circa 2002 even.

And neither is Jim Ross in 2019, sadly. I mean, I would gladly eat my words if he ended up proving he still has some of that exuberance left in the tank. But I just haven't seen any trace of it in a long, long time.

And seriously, man. Excalibur is the bee's tits. I don't know how much you've heard from him, but the dude checks off all the boxes. He can hype big fights. He can call dramatic blow-off matches with seriousness & urgency. He can be all cheese & comedy. And he's got a huge catalogue of work in PWG to prove every bit of it.