All Elite Wrestling

[sek69]

The only thing that qualifies someone to be pro wrestler is being paid by a promotion to get in their ring, that's really it. Now you probably should get some training and put in some work to not look like a complete schlub in there, but this is a genre of entertainment that was created by carnies to part people from their money. The only real qualifications for about 70 or so years was "I want to make money and in most cases be a complete shithead".  Plus the matter of most training for pro wrestling for a long time was just beating people up and whoever kept coming back got to be a wrestler. 

As far as Joey goes, I think he'd be better suited in a creative role than an in ring one. If for no other reason he seems like a dude that's going to kill himself one day doing crazy stuff. But as stated, he's been a JTTS so far in AEW and I don't see a problem with him being used that way. I also don't get the level of hate the guy gets. It's like having massive levels of hate for someone like EY when he was part of Sanity. He's clearly going to be slotted at a certain level so there's no reason to get BIG MAD about it when he's on TV.

[PeteF3]

He just main evented the damn show last week. He's clearly in a spot that a guy like, say, Shawn Spears or CIMA isn't at.

[gordi]

That's true, but: It was a main event spot in the same way that Koko B Ware main evented the first ever RAW (vs Yokozuna). It was the last match on the show, but nobody in their right mind expected Janela or Koko to go over. 

[Coffey]

Koko B. Ware was at an unfair disadvantage! President Jack Tunney knew that it was impossible to get Yokozuna into the Ghostbuster! Tunney was in cahoots with Mr. Fuji! 

Years later, in an attempt to right their wrong, WWE were forced to induct Koko B. Ware into the WWE Hall of Fame to make amends for their wrongdoings. 

[gordi]

"In cahoots" is such a perfect pro wrestling turn of phrase.

[El-P]

6 hours ago, sek69 said:

I also don't get the level of hate the guy gets. It's like having massive levels of hate for someone like EY when he was part of Sanity. He's clearly going to be slotted at a certain level so there's no reason to get BIG MAD about it when he's on TV.

It's been that way about AEW since the very beginning. People are irrationnal. I dont remember that kind of reaction about any other promotion ever. It's like all of a sudden AEW threatens what people are used to and they fear it will ruins pro-wrestling "as it should be" forever if they become a successful promotion. For the very first time, I kinda feel a real generation gap. I get a feeling of "that techno shit is not music, these guys don't even know how to play real instrument" at times. It's been brewing for a while now, but we are reaching a point where most of the workers are from a completely different generation from the "old-schoolers" from the 80's and 90's. AJ Style is a 40 something year old. That's the guy who was pro-wrestling in the future in the mid 00's. 15 years ago. We're past that generation too. For someone discovering pro-wrestling now, a Canadian Destroyer is a super cool spot but not a finisher. Like, a big vertical suplex 30 years ago. And it's fine. Superkicks are like clotheslines. You can do intergender wrestling. So ? They know what's up.

I truly feel something happening like never before, as the last remains of the 80's and 90's are slowly disappearing, and guys like Jericho & Dustin embracing the futur like Terry Funk did in the mid 90's. Up until, let's say the early to mid 10's, you could still feel the presence of this entire previous generation, people from the 90's were the big legends. As we're turning into the 20's, the landscape is washing itself clean of this era, much like there was barely anything left form the 60's and 70's in the 90's (yeah, you had Backlund tearing it up in WWF in a style that looked alien and was cool because of it, but no one then talked about the good old days of 70's wrestling, because the fans were younger then and brought up in the 80's).  Because most of what constitutes the pro-wrestling fans of today still are an heritage of the "glory days" of the 80's and late 90's, tons of these people seem to be scared shitless of what's coming up. Those damn millenials and their movez and looking like geeks and not understanding selling and heat and such. At one point, if AEW catches up, after a while most replies to the critics will end up being : ok boomers.

[The Thread Killer]

Either that, or it's just that Joey Janela sucks.

[Log]

I don't think Janela sucks, but I think he needs to figure out what he wants to be.  To me, he works best as the unhinged crazy dude who's not a good wrestler, but is wild and tough enough that he can stay in any fight.  He needs to drop the complicated exchanges and all that, and just be wild.  His out-of-nowhere dive onto Moxley that put him through the timekeeper's table was the best thing he did in that match, IMO.  Do more of that.  Awkwardly fly off things and through things, that kind of stuff.   

[The Thread Killer]

5 minutes ago, Log said:

I don't think Janela sucks, but I think he needs to figure out what he wants to be.  To me, he works best as the unhinged crazy dude who's not a good wrestler, but is wild and tough enough that he can stay in any fight.  He needs to drop the complicated exchanges and all that, and just be wild.  His out-of-nowhere dive onto Moxley that put him through the timekeeper's table was the best thing he did in that match, IMO.  Do more of that.  Awkwardly fly off things and through things, that kind of stuff.   

I have mixed feelings on that.  I don't disagree with you that bumping is by far his best skill, but at the same time I don't want to see the guy seriously injure himself trying to get over on a big stage, which is what is likely to happen.  That's why I've been harping on about his lack of basic skills.  The career expectancy for somebody who is primarily known for doing nothing but insane spots and big bumps is not very long.  As I said in my previous post, Mick Foley was actually an accomplished Pro Wrestler, and he cut his career drastically short and even endangered his life by taking stupid risks and insane bumps.  I've seen Foley say on more than one occasion that he found it sadly ironic that by the end of his career he was getting just a big of a crowd reaction by pulling a sock out of his pants or saying the name of the town he was in and giving a cheesy grin and a thumbs up, as he did falling off stuff.  Even though I don't enjoy his work at all, I wouldn't want to see Janela put his body at risk just to try and make himself a star on a national level.  Another one of the things Foley has gone about is his body, he was heavier, had lots of padding and a wide back which was good for bumping and helped him absorb punishment.  Joey Janela is so small, he looks like a serious injury waiting to happen.

[World's Worst Man]

13 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

Way back when, I remember reading a story by Meltzer (or maybe I heard it on his audio show) about how during the "Attitude Era" some of the veterans in the WWF locker room like The Undertaker and JBL were getting annoyed by the newer generations of guys coming up - specifically guys like Edge & Christian and The Hardys because they were "marks" before they became Pro Wrestlers.  The gist was that guys who grew up as hardcore fans took too many risks and made the job harder for everybody - and also that they were too nice to the fans.

This makes me think guys like Undertaker and JBL were the biggest marks of all. Pro wrestling is a performance, not dissimilar to a play or television show. Trying to maintain the act in normal, real-life situations is just pathetic. Treat the art properly during the show or in relevant situations, but outside of that, get a life.

[El-P]

29 minutes ago, World's Worst Man said:

This makes me think guys like Undertaker and JBL were the biggest marks of all. Pro wrestling is a performance, not dissimilar to a play or television show. Trying to maintain the act in normal, real-life situations is just pathetic. Treat the art properly during the show or in relevant situations, but outside of that, get a life.

This. Doesn't surprise me from known bully and stooge JBL though. The more I know about Taker IRL, the less I care about this guy. That's the issue with knowing too much about performers. Then again, maybe if performers were less of bullies and assholes in general, everything would flow better for everybody involved. I sure hope the younger generation is aware of this and things are only get more mature in the future.

Funny how you can't win anyway. If you're not a pro-wrestling fan, then you're just in for the money and you don't respect da business and da boys and shit. If you're a huge wrestling fan, you're a mark and a geek. Ok. 

[sek69]

2 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

Either that, or it's just that Joey Janela sucks.

Does he suck that much to demand such a forceful response that he gets? He's not like a jobber you'd see on the old 6:05 show that didn't even know how to take the most basic of moves properly, his shtick doesn't click with some folks. 

The fact that he  manages to get such a response from folks, even a negative one, seems to put him above the sea of people in wrestling I could give two shits about. 

[El-P]

Basically, if you've watched and been a fan of his Spring Break shows, you can't unlike Janela and you don't give a flying fuck about his fundamentals.

[Log]

4 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

I have mixed feelings on that.  I don't disagree with you that bumping is by far his best skill, but at the same time I don't want to see the guy seriously injure himself trying to get over on a big stage, which is what is likely to happen.  That's why I've been harping on about his lack of basic skills.  The career expectancy for somebody who is primarily known for doing nothing but insane spots and big bumps is not very long.  As I said in my previous post, Mick Foley was actually an accomplished Pro Wrestler, and he cut his career drastically short and even endangered his life by taking stupid risks and insane bumps.  I've seen Foley say on more than one occasion that he found it sadly ironic that by the end of his career he was getting just a big of a crowd reaction by pulling a sock out of his pants or saying the name of the town he was in and giving a cheesy grin and a thumbs up, as he did falling off stuff.  Even though I don't enjoy his work at all, I wouldn't want to see Janela put his body at risk just to try and make himself a star on a national level.  Another one of the things Foley has gone about is his body, he was heavier, had lots of padding and a wide back which was good for bumping and helped him absorb punishment.  Joey Janela is so small, he looks like a serious injury waiting to happen.

I'm going to sound like an asshole here, but I don't care about any of that.  I get where you're coming from, and I'm not trying to be dismissive of your concerns.  It's just that one of my favorite things about pro wrestling is that it's a haven for people like Janela.  What's he going to be doing if he's not a pro wrestler?  I mean, he seems like the kind of dude who couldn't hold down a job at a gas station.  Pro wrestling has given him an outlet where he can not only make a living, but become mildly famous.  Good for him. If he has to put his body on the line, so be it.  That's not my concern.  I do NOT want anything bad to happen to him.  Not at all.   But no one is going to pay to see Joey go hold-for-hold with anyone.  There's a history of this kind of person in wrestling and I love them.   Necro Butcher, Mad Man Pondo, hell even as far back as Gypsy Joe.  I say raise a glass to these wonderful weirdos and let's leave it to them to make decisions about what's best for their bodies!

[The Thread Killer]

I might think Joey Janela sucks, but sounds like Big Cass dislikes him a lot more than even I do.

[SirEdger]

*sigh*

Every time you think Big Cass got the message, he pulls that shit again.

[El-P]

This guy needs serious help. And no, he's not getting any sympathy for me, "mental health issue" or not. The fact he's the only guy ever whose motivational video was *pulled off* from DDPY's app tells me something. 

(unless his desperate no-talent ass is trying to work-shoot his way into some booking, in which case it at least make sense in a carny way)

[C.S.]

Big Cass vs. Joey Janela: a dream match nowhere in the world. 

[El-P]

No shit. Joey Janela taking a bump from the Moon down to Earth wouldn't make Big Casxcsc (whatever consonants the guy added to his stupid name tonight) even remotely entertaining.

[C.S.]

10 minutes ago, El-P said:

No shit. Joey Janela taking a bump from the Moon down to Earth wouldn't make Big Casxcsc (whatever consonants the guy added to his stupid name tonight) even remotely entertaining.

And you can't teach that!

[El-P]

I laughed.

[gordi]

So did I. Nice one, C.S.

[Slasher]

12 hours ago, World's Worst Man said:

This makes me think guys like Undertaker and JBL were the biggest marks of all. Pro wrestling is a performance, not dissimilar to a play or television show. Trying to maintain the act in normal, real-life situations is just pathetic. Treat the art properly during the show or in relevant situations, but outside of that, get a life.

Yeah for all the stuff that those "locker room leaders" pull, its clear they are the biggest marks of all. Wrestler Court? Taker being pissed off because Matt Hardy dared duck out of the ring instead of taking a pointless chokeslam from him? It's just childish shit.

[Coffey]

I'll say this about Joey Janella: I'd take him over damn near everyone that wrestled in XPW & I watched more XPW shows than I should probably admit. Compared to people like Supreme, Joey Janella looks like Terry Funk. 

[Laz]

12 hours ago, Coffey said:

I'll say this about Joey Janella: I'd take him over damn near everyone that wrestled in XPW & I watched more XPW shows than I should probably admit. Compared to people like Supreme, Joey Janella looks like Terry Funk. 

If it weren't for Johnny Webb and Messiah...