All Elite Wrestling

[Coffey]

58 minutes ago, ragemaster said:

Listen to the Will Ospreay on Booker T show, he tells a story about wrestling Shibata and that's when he understood its about the sellof the moves and not just the moves of the match.  

This is crazy to me. Who is training these kids? Do they literally just teach them a back bump, take their money & push 'em out the door?

Jungle Boy is already pretty good & has a ton of potential. Ospreay is great. So imagine if they "got it" earlier on in their training/careers. None of these younger guys are watching wrestling tapes or listening to veterans talk prior to Christian in AEW?

[SirEdger]

13 hours ago, NotJayTabb said:

Kingston/Park happened a year or two back at Rev Pro, it's still available to watch I believe.

The really impressive thing about All Out, which speaks to how good a job AEW have done of making people care about the roster, is how excited everyone is when so few of the match results feel unpredictable. Punk isn't losing his first match back, and I don't see Omega/Miro/Moxley/Baker losing any of their titles. The tag titles are maybe a 50/50 and Jericho losing to MJF for some time off wouldn't shock me, but Big Show isn't losing to QT Marshall. This feels like a show that's all about big moments rather than who wins, which is a rare feeling.

I would make the argument that based on the finish of last night's Dynamite, the Lucha Bros are winning at All Out (if they don't, then I don't know who you can have beat the Bucks at this point) but sooner or later, it's gonna take that moment where things start to unravel for The Elite and that some of their strategy backfires on them.)

[ragemaster]

11 minutes ago, Coffey said:

This is crazy to me. Who is training these kids? Do they literally just teach them a back bump, take their money & push 'em out the door?

Jungle Boy is already pretty good & has a ton of potential. Ospreay is great. So imagine if they "got it" earlier on in their training/careers. None of these younger guys are watching wrestling tapes or listening to veterans talk prior to Christian in AEW?

I think its not having territories and having the car trips like in the past, working with the good veterans who will pass that knowledge on early in your carer. 

As for most training schools, you get shown moves or spots and then you tend to practice with the friends you made at the school and come up with your own matches.  When you get to wrestle on shows, you normally only told who wins and to go out there for 10 mins, you learn it yourself as you go along. After the matches, feedback is rare, as you packing up the ring and off to get food. Plus you just wrestled your friend, so you both blowing smoke up each other and talking about how great your match was lol

If your lucky you get to work with a veteran who will help you, but when your young you already know it all in your head and you don't tend to ask for help. Plus you look at older wrestlers as past it and not doing the style you want to do yourself. 

[Blehschmidt]

16 hours ago, C.S. said:

One of the best and most valuable AEW signings ever - both on and off-screen.

He's worth a million PACs, Hagers, and Spears. Boy, I bet Tony wishes he hadn't wasted money on those guys (and, yes, I defended Spears at first, but woof). 

Still with the hatred on PAC. Who has been nothing but enjoyable and good for the company apart from some travel issues.

Totally agree with Spears and Hager being worthless though, and totally agree that Christian has been good for the company.

[C.S.]

2 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

Still with the hatred on PAC. Who has been nothing but enjoyable and good for the company apart from some travel issues.

Not hatred - just apathy. If PAC was a free agent now instead of at the beginning of AEW, he'd be in Impact instead - like Aiden English, etc.

I won't criticize travel issues during a pandemic, but it's not the first time for he's had to miss out on a major All Out match.

I feel bad for his fans, because it's impossible to invest in him. 

Are they replacing PAC with anyone? Someone told me Andrade will be facing a mystery opponent instead. No idea if that's true, but if it is, almost anyone they could put in that slot would be a bigger deal and make for a better match. 

[El-P]

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

Not hatred - just apathy. If PAC was a free agent now instead of at the beginning of AEW, he'd be in Impact instead - like Aiden English, etc.

As the official IMPACT fan of the board, I take exception to your disdain for this company you don't even follow, but that's really nothing to the heartbreak you cause to the reigning IMPACT champion who seems to have quite a lot of fun on these tapings working with terrific young talent like Ace Austin and old friend Tommy Dreamer. And fuck yeah give me Pac in IMPACT yesterday ! Pac vs Sami, Pac vs Moose, Pac vs Eddie, Pac vs Sabin, Pac vs Trey, Pac vs Austin, Pac vs Taurus, Pac vs Alexander, Pac vs Doering. I want all of this and I'm not gonna get it ! *sigh*

(BTW, W. Morrisey aka Big Cass is been given a chance, and yes, he still sucks, and that's in a company where even Bryan Myers found a way to be kinda fun to watch with his current character of a carny veteran)

[C.S.]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

As the official IMPACT fan of the board, I take exception to your disdain for this company you don't even follow, but that's really nothing to the heartbreak you cause to the reigning IMPACT champion who seems to have quite a lot of fun on these tapings working with terrific young talent like Ace Austin and old friend Tommy Dreamer. And fuck yeah give me Pac in IMPACT yesterday ! Pac vs Sami, Pac vs Moose, Pac vs Eddie, Pac vs Sabin, Pac vs Trey, Pac vs Austin, Pac vs Taurus, Pac vs Alexander, Pac vs Doering. I want all of this and I'm not gonna get it ! *sigh*

(BTW, W. Morrisey aka Big Cass is been given a chance, and yes, he still sucks, and that's in a company where even Bryan Myers found a way to be kinda fun to watch with his current character of a carny veteran)

No disdain whatsoever for Impact. It currently has the best World Champion in all of wrestling. 

I'm just realistic about Impact's place in the market. It's not as big as WWE, as hot as AEW, or as important as NJPW. After that, you get into Impact, ROH, NWA, etc. indie level - feds that have been cooled off and have very little buzz outside of the occasional exception. (Where Impact ranks among the ROHs and NWAs of the world is for other people to debate.)

That, of course, doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't enjoy Impact - you absolutely should - especially since, like I said, Christian is the #1 World Champ in the biz.

My point was simply, if PAC were a free agent now, would he really get a second glance by AEW when Bryan Danielson, potentially Adam Cole, and others are all available? Aiden English is great, but he's not the type who would be scooped up by AEW - and he wasn't. Impact got him, and that feels right. Ditto for W. Morrisey. PAC would be in the same boat.

Even Matt Cardona only got a limited number of dates with AEW (which turned out to be for the best, because he is killing it now with his new persona in GCW). 

[El-P]

30 minutes ago, C.S. said:

I'm just realistic about Impact's place in the market. It's not as big as WWE, as hot as AEW, or as important as NJPW.

No shit ? 

About that BTW, one thing that I really enjoy about IMPACT is that they know their place in the landscape. You don't get the overinflated sense of importance that is kinda annoying in the NWA or even MLW (last time I checked their stuff, they have been AWOL for a while now). They have their little place in history (they'll be 20 years old next year, how crazy is that ?), they have their own totally screwed-up history and they regularly made fun of "themselves" (because really, it's not the same company at all) while at the same time making the best use of the best part of this heritage. Sure, they put over their championship and events as big deals because that's what you should do, but there's definitely this feel of a place where you can have big fish in small ponds (which is cool, Shane Douglas was never better than in ECW) and where some guys and girls can develop their skills or characters, or get cool little cameos. I think they are very comfortable with their spot right now, even moreso now that AEW is around and they are working with them alongside NJ (and AAA, although that has been the case for a long time). 

30 minutes ago, C.S. said:

My point was simply, if PAC were a free agent now, would he really get a second glance by AEW when Bryan Danielson, potentially Adam Cole, and others are all available? Aiden English is great, but he's not the type who would be scooped up by AEW - and he wasn't. Impact got him, and that feels right. Ditto for W. Morrisey. PAC would be in the same boat.

No way. Although you don't seem to see it, PAC is one of the best pro-wrestler in the world, has been for years (back when he was main eventing NXT). Which is why he was one of the early signings of AEW. If he had not been signed, he could have gone to NJPW and be the IWGP junior champion in a blink of an eye. He's that kind of talent. AEW has signed people coming from IMPACT like Brian Cage and Ethan Page and neither have the profile nor the talent of PAC (I like both of them, Ethan especially and I'm glad he found a good fit with Scorpio). He's neither Matt Cardona nor Matt Renwholt (who is indeed a super cool worker, unlike his former partner who has been a total bore in MLW). This guy is a total package as an elite, no pun intended, worker. 

[sek69]

Dave was talking about how people in both WWE and AEW have got covid recently and in his usual between the lines style kind of implied PAC's travel issues were more "can't travel because he got covid" issues. 

[El-P]

Yeah he said that it was the same kind of "travel issues" as Sasha Banks.

[rovert]

Sasha Banks (and Roman Reigns and the Usos) are big absences on this month's WWE tour of the UK. 

[Coffey]

AEW is so much better now than they were a year ago but they still have a lot of issues. A big one being Jericho on commentary right now. Mark Henry isn't any good on there either. AEW needs to make adjustments to the commentary booth as a whole. I would love to see 2-man teams, one for Dynamite & one for Rampage. The teams right now, it just feels like too many chefs in the kitchen. 

Hopefully after All Out, we'll see people like Matt Hardy & QT Marshall & The Gunn Club get significantly less TV time. If they get put on Dark or Dark: Elevation, that's fine. But there's zero reason they should be on the main shows when people like Shida don't make air. Rick Knox the referee is worthless & I can't tell if his ineptitude is supposed to be his gimmick or what. Not like a referee should have a gimmick to begin with.

Malakai Black is doing good things. Miro is doing good things. They have C.M. Punk now. All signs indicate they're going to have Bryan Danielson soon. Kenny Omega is still there. Hangman Page will be back before too long. And AEW might get Adam Cole too. So the upper midcard & main event is looking pretty damn good. And you still have guys under them, like Jungle Boy & Darby Allin, that can be slotted into pretty much any match without anyone questioning it. Britt Baker is also one of the most over wrestlers in the entire company but they need to start building other women for her. Also they should probably just turn her completely babyface at this point as she's already a defacto face to the crowd but the booking is weird as she's like a bit of a tweener & working with heels. 

AEW has got to do something about their tag team division. When the company was first coming together, I thought their tag division was going to be one of the bright spots & highlights of the company. Tap into an area that WWE has pretty much squandered for years. I was hoping we could have a new era of great tag wrestling like during the Midnight Express, Fantastics & Rock 'n Roll Express days, but it's been about on par with WWE thus far to be honest. The Young Bucks aren't doing much good lately to me, if others love it, more power to 'em... but that shit is corny. I'm hoping the cage match will be the turning of a corner. Would love to be able to see a tag team main event a show without anyone questioning it. 

Really looking forward to the Pay-Per-View & I know I would love everything in AEW but I don't hate it all either. It's definitely heading in a positive direction & I like a lot more than I dislike. It's nice to feel positive about a wrestling company again. 

[C.S.]

Good news for anyone who hates Bleacher Report.

 

[Jmare007]

It's awesome seeing Punk so engaged with wrestling again. LOL at him spoiling Danielson (again). He's also fantasy booking a match with him and Dragon vs the Young Bucks so you gotta believe that's happening very soon.

[El-P]

And so Mox is the GCW champ. So 2021.

[SteveJRogers]

2 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

It's awesome seeing Punk so engaged with wrestling again. LOL at him spoiling Danielson (again). He's also fantasy booking a match with him and Dragon vs the Young Bucks so you gotta believe that's happening very soon.

I’m so hoping for a scenario where Page defeats Kenny at Full Gear.  Bryan turns heel and challenges him.  Defeats him on a Dynamite episode, and debuts an eco-friendly version of the AEW belt, like the WWE one from a few years ago.

[joeg]

2 years ago my biggest complaints about AEW was that the roster was incredibly weak and the booking was inconsistent. 2 years makes a lot of difference. 

[NotJayTabb]

When you think that All In featured a 20 minute Joey Janela match, and now he doesn't even get a sniff on Dynamite, you can see how much the roster has evolved.

[El-P]

We've reached the Bash at the Beach period. "God I love pro-wrestling" was Schiavone's 2021 version of "Hogan you can go to hell". Because that's what this show was all about. L.U.V. for pro-wrestling. It shows on faces of the audiences, it shows on the faces of the workers (crazy how pro-wrestling is actually becoming more *real*, in every sense of the term, as it matures) and it shows on the face of Tony Khan, just watch the media scrum video, this guy has stars in his eyes when he watches he workers.

The one thing that is really great about AEW is that in the long term if they keep up they way they do things, they will change the perspective of the young workers, who may not have this idea that WWE is the ultimate goal in pro-wrestling anymore. That will be the most interesting shift. Of course as far as a mainstream audience, it's another story, you don't dethrone Coca-Cola. But pro-wrestling is made by pro-wrestlers, and if they see AEW as the ultimate destination because the product is a lot better and the company is much healthier (in a personal happiness way), WWE is gonna have trouble attracting the same kind of talent they did during their almost 20 years of monopoly. I mean, you're a 25 years old wrestler today. Where do you really want to go work ?

[El-P]

In others news, Ric Flair spotted on BTE. That was pretty funny too. You know eventually he'll show up. 

[MoS]

Speaking of....

Look who is 'liking' in a clear example of passive aggressive behaviour, a tweet mocking his booking on a show Coach Tony K has explicitly stated is also the A-show 

 

[El-P]

There are indeed a few signs since the very beginning indicating that this whole Andrade thingy may not end well...  Considering Rush is doing the "Losing my smile" bit in ROH (as opposed to the über-pro Adam Cole who got a short extension on his contract just to end his feud with Roderick Strong because it was important to him) and the fact I doubt Tony K. would give Beastia del Ring a charity paycheck and the fact Charlotte won't leave WWE.... I dunno, as far as Ingobernables goes, I'd rather fly in Naito & Takagi.

The guy better have a killer match against PAC (and it's not that hard to have a killer match with PAC), because having subpar performance and a shitty attitude won't fly in this company... Especially not now.

[Stiva]

My main gripe is that Chavo isn’t channeling his dads 2004 WWE run anywhere nearly enough for my money.  

[Mad Dog]

So I was thinking of ways you could sign Charlotte and not have it suck. I think where I would go is have her come in and say she's retiring and just wants to support Andrade. Then you have Britt Baker taunt her out of retirement over the course of a few months. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

1 hour ago, Mad Dog said:

So I was thinking of ways you could sign Charlotte and not have it suck. I think where I would go is have her come in and say she's retiring and just wants to support Andrade. Then you have Britt Baker taunt her out of retirement over the course of a few months. 

Nah, I’ll still pass.

The Andrade run has been disappointing thus far, though I think he’s been in a general rut for quite a while.