SirEdger Posted March 24, 2022 Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 Whatever was working with Vickie in WWE, it's not doing it anymore in AEW. That was embarrassing to have Thunder Rosa involved in that segment as her first outing as AEW Women's Champ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 3 hours ago, KawadaSmile said: Just saw the Vickie/Thunder Rosa segment. This was a very sports entertaining episode, bubbas. Yeah I call bullshit on this. The first hour was far far from sports entertainment, it was proper high quality pro wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted March 24, 2022 Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 18 minutes ago, MoS said: Yeah I call bullshit on this. The first hour was far far from sports entertainment, it was proper high quality pro wrestling. The first hour was excellent, yet still had MJF and Wardlow in it. Both are very much sports entertainers. Bear in mind, I don't even think the episode was *bad*, just the two segments being very much what WWE would do on their bad days. FTR Bald vs Punk being the opener works to get the crowd going, but when the episode later on has Vickie going for the lowest effort xenophobic promos with Rosa barely being able to properly get a celebration, Tay and Sammy being horndogs and talking about jizzing all over the belt and finishes with heels actually calling themselves sports entertainers, it is leaning heavy on that side of the business, which is a choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 8 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: The first hour was excellent, yet still had MJF and Wardlow in it. Both are very much sports entertainers. Wrestlers cutting promos and doing entertaining out-of-ring stuff is not automatically sports entertainment. Vince did not invent entertaining wrestling. Would you call Memphis studio segments or JCP Jimmy Valiant feuds sports entertainment? Because I personally associate that term with 20 min back and forth promos where no one interrupts another person, they take turns delivering stilted dialogues, etc. I guess that is not entirely fair because the Attitude Era certainly had sports-entertainment stuff, but I would say that Austin would have certainly hated his stuff being called sports-entertaining? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 13 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: when the episode later on has Vickie going for the lowest effort xenophobic promos with Rosa barely being able to properly get a celebration, Tay and Sammy being horndogs and talking about jizzing all over the belt and finishes with heels actually calling themselves sports entertainers, it is leaning heavy on that side of the business, which is a choice. No argument from me on the Sammy-Tay and Vickie-Rosa stuff, those two segments stuck out like two sore thumbs. As for the Jericho Appreciation Society, I would argue that is very self-aware and tongue in cheek and is probably going to end with the wrestlers beating the crap out of the sports-entertainers who call themselves stupid. I would call their segments a parody of sports entertainment more than anything, although with Jericho, it is very easy to switch between parody and the real thing being pathetic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted March 24, 2022 Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 48 minutes ago, MoS said: Wrestlers cutting promos and doing entertaining out-of-ring stuff is not automatically sports entertainment. Vince did not invent entertaining wrestling. Would you call Memphis studio segments or JCP Jimmy Valiant feuds sports entertainment? Because I personally associate that term with 20 min back and forth promos where no one interrupts another person, they take turns delivering stilted dialogues, etc. I guess that is not entirely fair because the Attitude Era certainly had sports-entertainment stuff, but I would say that Austin would have certainly hated his stuff being called sports-entertaining? Automatically, no. They do fill in that mold Vince loves for his performers and we have discussed this in other threads. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, we don't know, but I certainly do appreciate Wardlow's Batista-like appeal. Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant is delightfully so, yeah. He was a larger than life character who also drew inspiration from Billy Graham. Sports entertainment, to me, is something neutral, and it was coincidentally exemplified on a great promo on this week's NXT episode. WALTGUNT was talking about how LA Knight was an ambarrassment to the sport, and Knight retorted it was sports entertainment. The former had the first part down, yet Knight was both. I don't think it's even possible to have a professional wrestling show that is focused solely on the sport aspect of the business, specially in 2022. AEW has the BCC which is no-bullshit, to-the-point wrestling, NXT has Imperium, etc. Yet on the whole, both companies follow the entertainment side of things more - occult characters, a big fucking lizard is the tag champ, there are those Best Friend fools (OC is great tho)... The problem comes when, riding that line of exaggerated characters and storylines that lean more into your Riverdale-like plotline, you may end up talking about how you blew a load on your championship belt, or, worst case scenario, go full Katie Vick (which I don't think AEW is in danger of doing, and certainly never will). Yesterday's episode was more on the dumber side of things, even if the straight sports approach was aces (as it usually is). In fact, one uses "sports entertainment" to poke fun at absurd tropes and storylines like that delightful Triple H/Kane feud. Jericho's current gimmick pokes fun at awful name changes and all that, and it is a hoot. There's plenty of time to course-correct the Nyla/Thunder Rosa feud. Rosa has already expressed how much she disliked Brock bringing in a Mariachi band to mock Eddie, and have her first title feud be revolving around casual xenophobia would suck ass even harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted March 24, 2022 Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 I get that the segment wasn't great, but Rosa is clearly going to vanquish the evil heels which you can't always assume will be the case in WWE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted March 24, 2022 Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 I thought it was overall a really good episode. The first hour was excellent and honestly one of the best they've ever done. Thought Lethal-Cole and the ME were solid even if they had too much interference. Everything else was not great. Leyla-Velvet got off to a good start and I liked their match on Rampage, but this fizzled out pretty quickly. The Sammy/Tay-ATT segment was bad, but I found it more stupid than "get this shit off my TV immediately." I enjoyed Sammy's run as TNT Champion, but he seems miscast as a babyface now. He and Tay as obnoxious heels would be much better. Rosa-Nyla/Vickie was the only thing I downright hated. Not just Rosa not getting a proper celebration/promo, but Vickie spouting her real-world views on immigration. Their interactions on Twitter and Nyla's promo afterwards are a hopeful indication they are moving away from this angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 24, 2022 Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 You know we're getting that legit Sammy/Tay sextape leak one of these days, right ? Might as well make it an angle before it even happens. The whole jizz on a belt is SUCH a heel move (and really, it kinda refers to the Paige leaks, which kinda sucks). Vickie Guerrero has been useless in AEW since day one. This angle is WWE level awful and a terrible mistake on how to jumpstart Thunder Rosa's title reign. MJF vs Wardlow still doesn't interest me. Yeah... hum.... Remember when AEW TV was all about the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega having awesome matches every week at Daily's place ? Ok ok, of course I'm focusing on the bad here (the Wardlow angle is not bad per say, just uninteresting to me), but I've endlessly praised all the great stuff before, and really, that wasn't a very good week for Coach Tony K. Maybe trying to book ROH at the same time is not gonna be a very good idea at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted March 24, 2022 Report Share Posted March 24, 2022 3 minutes ago, El-P said: The whole jizz on a belt is SUCH a heel move (and really, it kinda refers to the Paige leaks, which kinda sucks). I hate to defend anything here, but pro wrestling has a long history of champs fucking with their belts on. Yes, people will probably make the same assumption I did earlier in the thread, but at least I can see the plausible deniability here. Honestly everything wrong with that segment would be corrected if Sammy was a heel, and even if he was he wouldn't get nearly the heel heat Dan Lambert does and would end up babyfaced anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 13 hours ago, sek69 said: I hate to defend anything here, but pro wrestling has a long history of champs fucking with their belts on. Babyfaces ? I dunno, I guess you had the infamous Shawn Micheals picture of him naked wearing only the belt, but assuming the belt is still covered in body fluid because you never even cleaned it up is not really classic babyface stuff. Sammy's just miscast at this point, he's not a babyface, and Tay becomes unlikeable by association. Of course there was plenty of good stuff on the show too, Dax vs Punk was very good (teases of Bret Hart coming in ? Would make sense especially as we're getting close to the Owen Cup), Cole vs Lethal was absolutely terrific (they had the crowd in the pam of their hand too, just listening to the crowd would tell you that, Lethal has been quite impressive thus far, I lust admit) and the Texas Tornado match had a very Nitro feel to it I thought, for some reasons. That new Jericho faction is quite a success thus far too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 They'd better be turning heel if they're going to continue in this vein because this shit is cringe as hell. Sammy's better off as a heel anyway. Not only does he have the most punchable face in wrestling since Yoji Anjo, he just radiates douchebag energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 12 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said: They'd better be turning heel if they're going to continue in this vein because this shit is cringe as hell. Sammy's better off as a heel anyway. Not only does he have the most punchable face in wrestling since Yoji Anjo, he just radiates douchebag energy. Agree about everything here. And yeah, the Anjo part is spot on (although Anjo was still cooler because of the UWF style, he had quite a charm as a douchebag). And honestly, I already want PVZ to slap Tay around. If Vince Russo was there he'd book a OnlyFan on a pole match already. BTW, is Stu Grayson injured or something ? Seems like he hasn't been around for a while now. Hope he comes back, he's one of the most underrated talent in the company. Meanwhile, I would not mind a Silver/Reynolds underdog reign, they really can sustain that level now. Oh, and I'm actually intrigued by moody Julia Hart... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 25, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 Props to Julia Hart for staying around BPJ for an extended period of time, listening to his promos, and not losing control and slapping the fuck out of him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 Your Pillman Jr. hatred is just getting awkward now... Yeah, he's not been very good. Probably should find himself another identity that suits himself better than just being "Jr." too, maybe that would help finding the right kinda working style for him (he's obviously not his father). I don't see what warrants to much constant venom though, including following up that post when he talked about his personal struggles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 I just don't get why they didn't have Julia Hart make the turn already. Them varsity dudes got their asses battered from corner to corner by them satanists, the feud is over, and she is still in the process of a change of Hart? A bit less straightforward than expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 4 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: A bit less straightforward than expected. That's a good thing actually. That's why it intrigues me. And ok, I'll do my coming out. Although the Alexa Bliss stuff I've watched (on Youtube) was often cringe because of the WWE kind of writing, the actual idea of the character, I actually kinda like it like I enjoyed the most out there Lucha Underground stuff (witches, murders and stuff.... damn, I still kinda miss LU). That being said, AEW has Allie aka The Bunny right there, and she has played creepy insane characters for a long time now and she was really fun at it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 Having an incredible character performer like Alexa helps so much, too. If we rank occult characters in wrestling, she is certainly at the top. But is Julia joining the HoB the goal here? Are they having a one and done match to solidify the turn or another 4 weeks of matches? I get suspense being a good thing but there ain't no scenario I am envisioning that doesn't turn the Varsity Blondes into mega goobers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 21 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: Having an incredible character performer like Alexa helps so much, too. Won't get an argument from me, I was enjoying the Alexa stuff everybody hated back then when she was the dominant heel champ. She's definitely someone I would enjoy watching out of the system too. No idea what's the plan for Julia. And really, the Varsity shouldn't be a priority anyway. The Young Bucks have made them look ten times better (and more over) than they actually were and Pillman hasn't been very good for a while now (dating back from the MJF stuff, which still was kinda cool as they put him over in his hometown). There's so many very good to great tag teams in that company (i's ridiculous actually, they could run a tag-team G1), I don't see why they should be pushed above their current level now. If they want to actually work on developing Julia, she should indeed be given a new role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 23 hours ago, Sweet Brown Koko said: Wait a minute: If they are in the bed then who took the photo? WHO’S THE THIRD MAN??? Anna Jay for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 1 hour ago, El-P said: Your Pillman Jr. hatred is just getting awkward now... Yeah, he's not been very good. Probably should find himself another identity that suits himself better than just being "Jr." too, maybe that would help finding the right kinda working style for him (he's obviously not his father). I don't see what warrants to much constant venom though, including following up that post when he talked about his personal struggles... In MLW, it felt like he was playing a bit more on the Loose Cannon part of his dad's career (at least in how he dressed, and a little in how he worked). I don't think he's suited from an athleticism standpoint to be Flyin' Brian - he seems fine as an athlete but his dad was a freak in that regard. The problem is that he's not really a good enough promo to break out in AEW at the moment. Feels like the type of guy that would be better off with a run in Impact (or ROH, maybe) to find an actual character. He got his shot last fall, didn't really show enough and now I don't see how he's anything more than a JTTS in AEW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 6 minutes ago, Migs said: Feels like the type of guy that would be better off with a run in Impact (or ROH, maybe) to find an actual character. Yep, I was thinking the same thing. Wasn't a fan of his MLW Loose Canon redux either, but the whole Hart Foundation stuff was fun.... well... I mean, of course there was the whole Teddy Hart stuff and DBS Jr. is that Canadian guy who supports Trump.... yeah, I said it back then I wasn't sure how I would look back on me enjoying those Hart Foundation bits when the Teddy Hart shit hit the fan and... maybe better forget about this whole deal... 14 minutes ago, Migs said: Anna Jay for sure. So Jungle Boy was somewhere in the vicinity. Him and Sammy are two of the pillars of the company apparently. (kappa Emote) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 25, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 2 hours ago, El-P said: Your Pillman Jr. hatred is just getting awkward now... Yeah, he's not been very good. Probably should find himself another identity that suits himself better than just being "Jr." too, maybe that would help finding the right kinda working style for him (he's obviously not his father). I don't see what warrants to much constant venom though, including following up that post when he talked about his personal struggles... Might be awkward for you, but I am sure you can deal with it. He is not my friend, I don't care about his personal struggles. He is probably the mosy overpushed talent on the AEW roster given his talent, and he jumped the shark when they had him feud with Malakai Black and waste so much of Black's time on a jobber. I do like Griff Garrison though, think he has potential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 25, 2022 Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 I dunno, a simple mention of Julia Hart triggering "BRIAN PILLMAN JR. SUX !" is awkward for me, yes. Like, I wasn't even talking about him... Whenever people act like this it always reminds me of that hilarious "HE'S FAT !" Scott Steiner promo though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted March 25, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2022 I enjoy being a hater, what can I say. Plus this angle has been going on for quite a while. I know you said you like this elongation, but I think AEW sometimes teases and stretches angles a bit more than necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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