All Elite Wrestling

[SirEdger]

Certainly a good fit for both. Giving more exposure to Julia Hart while it also gives Varsity Blonds an extra little something to their act!

[Enforcer]

Since The Bucks are defending the title against The Varsity Blonds next week, should they go for a feel good moment with Brian Jr after the Dark side of the ring episode and have the blond with the belt? I am not feeling the Bucks as champ and their match with Mox/Eddie would be heated enough that it doesn’t need a title on the line..

[SirEdger]

Could be interesting, that's for sure. I think Mox & Kingston are more about messing with the Bucks than actually winning the titles

[Enforcer]

I don’t know how many AEW fans watches DSOTR ( I would guess a significant portion of the fans base) but it could get a huge pop and a real feel good moment. The more that I think about it, the more I want it to happen. 

[Coffey]

At least the Varsity Blonds feel fresh. I say why not? They just strapped Miro with the TNT Title, so trying some new things now seems like it's not out of the question. 

[Marksman]

Yeah, I'd love to see the VBs get the belts; Mox/Kingston vs the Bucks is fine without them. 

[Enforcer]

So there are numerous reports that members of the elite are at war with each other backstage and that it’s keeping a différence maker from coming in. I am curious as to whom that might be. La Sombra? Bryan Danielson? 
 

Hopefully they can work things out and get back on track. I don’t want anything to happen to AEW. It may not be perfect but i haven’t enjoyed following a promotion like that since the end of WCW and ECW. 

[strobogo]

Well there's only one who is off by himself not involved with the others on screen in anyway for many months now

[Stiva]

Not to mention taking entire segments of shows to do a baby shower, advertise his reality show and do tone-deaf, patriotic promos because he has a psychotic desire to recreate all of his daddy’s programs. For as much as AEW attempts to make everything connected, Cody’s segments may as well be from a different promotion. As much as I find the Young Bucks borderline unwatchable, they’re plugged into a lot of the various programs on the show and acknowledge things. Plus, you know they’re going to get their comeuppance at some point. It really feels that, once Darby finally beat Cody, he’d served his purpose for the fed

[MoS]

He has been absolutely terrible since that awful Shaq feud started. That killed him. All for one good (not even great) rating that had zero transference to the viewership in general

[SirEdger]

It was only a matter of time before Cody ended up alienated from the other EVPs. But man, didn't expect this to happen that fast.

[Stiva]

Whatever it is, they need to sort it because if it’s stopping any of Bryan, Joe or Andrade coming in, then it’s costing them all a fortune. Quite literally. I don’t even love Omega but I’d be down for Omega vs any of them

[rovert]

12 hours ago, Enforcer said:

So there are numerous reports that members of the elite are at war with each other backstage and that it’s keeping a différence maker from coming in. I am curious as to whom that might be. La Sombra? Bryan Danielson? 
 

Hopefully they can work things out and get back on track. I don’t want anything to happen to AEW. It may not be perfect but i haven’t enjoyed following a promotion like that since the end of WCW and ECW. 

I've been talking about it since January 2020.

The name I always heard is CM Punk for the record. 

[sek69]

Well Cody seemingly tried to big time him when it looked like Punk might have wanted to be a part of All In, so I didn't think it was any secret there. 

[El-P]

Despite my inactivity on the board I'm still following pro-wrestling (although watching much less than I used to because of a global mental burn out, and yeah, I'm aware of that GWE thingy but it's in 5 years so, a marathon not a sprint ) and enjoying a lot of what AEW does (and other thing not so much like the last part of the Wargames match, less so the padded fall but rather the fact they felt compelled to do that spot, which did look stupid and reeked of WWE among other issues), like this week the amazing SCU vs Young Buck and Miro vs Darby Allin matches (and Mox coming out to Wild Thing as a tribute to Onita and having Nagata showing up), but I do have to say, when Cody cut that promo, it was the very first time I legit CRINGED watching AEW in a "I don't want to watch that shit" way. Of coure there have been bad matches and bad angles before, but this was different. Talking about "taking pro-wrestling 30 years backward", here we are. Of course who am I kidding, this is still pro-wrestling we're talking about, so I should not be surprised. Still, I was feeling embarrassed to watch shit like this when I was 14 years old (Hacksaw Duggan promos during the Slaughter Iraki sympathiser angle, first time I questioned if I should keep on watching that dumb shit), I really have no sympathy for this at all 30 years later.

And the one thing that popped in my mind, oddly enough, was that I would not be surprised to see Cody back in WWE eventually. Let's not get confused. AEW has been built on the Elite. But the Elite was always Kenny Omega & the Young Bucks. That's the core. The match that made it possible was Jericho vs Omega in NJPW. The three people Khan wanted to anchor his promotion were Jericho, Omega & Punk. Of course Cody did get over during his run with the Bullet Club and was a draw against Aldis for the NWA title at All In. And of course he looked like a bigger star *as long as Omega & the Bucks kept themselves in the background* for the first year or so. But once Cody was done with the first main event feuds and got the TV title over, he seemed like he was lost in his own shuffle of wanting to attract the "mainstream viewer", whatever that means. Hey, I though the Shaq match was tons of fun. The build was terrible, but the match was fun. Then again, it really did not mean anything long term. Then, he's doing a baby gender reveal on TV. Ok. Good for you. Watch me not give a fuck. Then, they announce a real TV show, which reeks of WWE. Then, he has this odd feud with QT Marshall that looks totally separated from whatever the Elite are doing on top, leading to a promo flaunting embarrassing jingoism, the worst of it was talking about how 60 years ago there was still segregation in the South but look now he's having a baby with a black woman.... Well, the fact there was still racial segregation 60 years ago is actually super embarrassing, and it's not like the social climate for black folks has got a whole lot better either especially after 4 years of Donald Trump (get some lectures by the NXT crew for your education, people). And the whole "American Dream" thingy, in 2021 ? Really ? What's next, he's gonna cut a promo about how trickling down economy works and how union would kill pro-wrestling (speaking of which, Zelina sure worked us fools for believing she had any actual serious though process. See also, Bryan, Daniel, if he resigns with the E after all this talk about his love of pro-wrestling and his social values and whatnot) ? Yeah, I just want Agogo to punch the fucker in the gut repeatedly after THAT promo, which I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking it was tone deaf as fuck.

So, rumors of a split between EVPs, whatever truth there is to it, would not exactly shock me. And Cody & Brandi back in WWE eventually or going for "other business ventures", as they say, would not surprise me either. The promotion has been built on the Elite views of pro-wrestling (and it never ceases to puzzle me how people seemingly never seem to get bored of complaining about Omega & the Bucks every damn week, I mean, it really is *their* promotion when it comes down to it so...) while Cody seems to chase the ghost of his father (the fact he wasn't in the first Blood & Guts after all may have been an issue too, who knows ?). I'd love to see heel Cody & Brandy Rhodes again working like they did in ROH & NJ a few years ago instead (let's face it, although I gave her the benefit of the doubt so many times during my "honeymoon" period, Brandi's stint in AEW has been a complete mess).

Hey, AEW is just what it is after all : another pro-wrestling company. It's not reinventing the wheel. I'm not exactly worried about them at all, they've been nothing but a great success all things considered (despite the ridiculous "moving the goal post" talk that has been going on since the beginning). The worst thing that could happen to them from my perspective is becoming another WWE. So, yeah, Cody cutting THAT promo was really the first time I went like "well, pro-rasslin'" and sighed. I guess the biggest red flag was there for a while : the neck tattoo.

[Enforcer]

8 hours ago, rovert said:

I've been talking about it since January 2020.

The name I always heard is CM Punk for the record. 

I don’t know why I never taught about CM Punk. With all the money that he has, it makes sense that he does not want to come in if there is drama and just stay home. 
 

 

[PeteF3]

If it is CM Punk then that's almost a relief to me because I'm long past the point of giving a shit about him, or expecting him to return in any meaningful capacity.

[strobogo]

Jericho vs Cody vs Punk in a feud to see who can make the most lame pot shots at WWE/HHH

[MoS]

Nice seeing you, Jerome! Global mental burnout is real. Of course for my country, the burnout is literally physical too; dead bodies are being dumped in rivers because there are too many of them. It's exhausting, depressing, just the worst time to live. 

I mostly agree with most of what you said except the part about how we should not complain about the Elite because it is *their* promotion. It is not. It is Tony Khan's promotion, and yes, when the promotion started, it was basically about the Elite and a cast of supporting characters. However, we have long moved past that. AEW is so much more than the Elite now. Darby, Britt, MJF, Sammy, Hangman, Dark Order,  even Miro now, AEW belongs to all of them, it is their promotion too. Given Darby is well on his way to surpass Jericho as the biggest ratings mover in AEW, I am confident in saying that the trend of the promotion moving away from the Elite will only get stronger.

P.S - I agree the Shaq match itself was a lot of fun. But the build was genuinely terrible, took way too much TV time, and did not result in anything apart from maybe giving Jade a good career launch

[El-P]

1 hour ago, MoS said:

Nice seeing you, Jerome! Global mental burnout is real. Of course for my country, the burnout is literally physical too; dead bodies are being dumped in rivers because there are too many of them. It's exhausting, depressing, just the worst time to live. 

Oh yeah I saw that, it's so awful and depressing. So sorry.  

I've reached the point where I'm torn between following the news because I'm interested and trying to just go into escapism because it just puts me in too bad of a state. I mean, the perspective for France next year is very gloomy, and I won't say much more because PWO, but yeah, the country is leaning more and more toward really bad stuff...

1 hour ago, MoS said:

I mostly agree with most of what you said except the part about how we should not complain about the Elite because it is *their* promotion. It is not. It is Tony Khan's promotion, and yes, when the promotion started, it was basically about the Elite and a cast of supporting characters.

Yeah, I meant it as far as the philosophy and aesthetics goes, not literally. And honestly these guys have more to do with some of the old-school stuff that's happening in the promotion (they are such pro-wrestling geeks) than Cody Rhodes, who's a product of 00's WWE more than anything else (unlike his brother).

1 hour ago, MoS said:

Darby, Britt, MJF, Sammy, Hangman, Dark Order,  even Miro now, AEW belongs to all of them, it is their promotion too. Given Darby is well on his way to surpass Jericho as the biggest ratings mover in AEW, I am confident in saying that the trend of the promotion moving away from the Elite will only get stronger.

Of course, totally agree, and I mean these guys have a lot of milleage on their bodies already. Nick Jackson is still young though and could be a breakout single star, but Omega & Matt are past 35 already and have worked a very taxing style for years. Darby is so awesome and clearly one of my favorites pro-wrestler in the world today. I understand how some refer to Jeff Hardy but to me apart from the fact he's young and "reckless" (but not really) and he's got the facepaint and all, there's not much comparable since Hardy's stuff always looked like shit and he was all about doing a big bump for the sake of it. He actually reminds me a lot more of Raven, as no one could take a beating like he did in his prime and he has that singular kind way of moving (both very different, but both singular). And Foley, but a lot less suicidal. And Rey Mysterio. I loved the hell out of that Miro match.

[Enforcer]

That match also gave Red Velvet a big boost. She really stepped  up to the plate and has been great ever since.  Her match with Serena on Wednesday should be fun.  

[Coffey]

I actually think AEW would be an easier, more fun watch if Cody & Chris Jericho weren't on the shows at all. To me, anyway. I also don't think they're getting anything out of Sting other than having to pay him to stand there. Cody & Jericho especially though are just fucking WWE through & through. Everything they say & do comes off as being a b-level attempt to parody WWE shit. Jericho has more than worn out his welcome to me. Even when shit is supposed to be taken seriously he's out there telling jokes & trying to come up with some stupid new one-liner to slap on a t-shirt. He was far & away the worst part about Wargames.

If the commentary team was just Tony Schiavone with Paul Wight or Tony Schiavone with Taz, it would be much better off as well but that's a different rant for a different time. I'm never going to like Excalibur & I think Jim Ross would be better in a backstage role. Talent relations.  

[strobogo]

Cody online arguing with people on Twitter that "actually some people say it was the greatest promo of the modern era" without a hint of irony lmao

[kas]

My interest in Jericho fell off a cliff after his title reign. The same goes for Cody.

[PeteF3]

15 minutes ago, strobogo said:

Cody online arguing with people on Twitter that "actually some people say it was the greatest promo of the modern era" without a hint of irony lmao

Let's be fair to Cody and not assume what he means by "modern era." Like, if the "modern era" extends back to, say, Wednesday afternoon, it's a contender.