MoS Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 Is it me or does the build to Double or Nothing feel uncharacteristically lukewarm for an AEW PPV? It's like much of TK's attention has been on acquiring RoH and the new Forbidden Door PPV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 Page vs CM Punk hasn't had a built yet. Wardlow vs MJF has had a super efficient build but the match really won't be a classic or anything. The Women's World Title match hasn't had a built yet. Young Bucks vs Hardys is probably the "dream match" of the card, but honestly I've been over the Hardys nostalgia tour after the second week (peaked with the ECW style brawl where Jeff dove from some high place in a hall) and it will take the Bucks at their absolute best to get a usual Bucks level match out of the Hardys, who are both shot (I did not mind Matt at all as a working manager in the midcard, but a featured match is another matter; Jeff is older, slower Jeff that can still try to die if need be). Several potential great matches will probably fill the card, but we don't know about most of them yet (gotta have something really solid for the BCC, the tag titles, House of Black vs Death Triangle maybe, FTR, some ROH match...). We don't know the finals of the Owen tournaments yet. So, yep, indeed. In the end there's potential for an awesome card, but the booking as not been super focused on putting the pieces together. The next few weeks should intensify greatly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 I read someone fantasy booking Gargano as the Joker, facing Cole in the finals and my heart sunk a little bit. Most AEW fans would love that scenario though. I think. Interested in what Punk does vs Silver. Does the Dark Order turn with Hangman? Does Punk start beating him up and Hangman doesn't care/make the save? It has to be different from the Danielson stuff and I wanna see what Punk has planned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 56 minutes ago, MoS said: Is it me or does the build to Double or Nothing feel uncharacteristically lukewarm for an AEW PPV? It's like much of TK's attention has been on acquiring RoH and the new Forbidden Door PPV. I think it's a combination of too much ROH stuff & too many ex-NXT guys. AEW is losing their identity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirEdger Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Jmare007 said: I read someone fantasy booking Gargano as the Joker, facing Cole in the finals and my heart sunk a little bit. Most AEW fans would love that scenario though. I think. Interested in what Punk does vs Silver. Does the Dark Order turn with Hangman? Does Punk start beating him up and Hangman doesn't care/make the save? It has to be different from the Danielson stuff and I wanna see what Punk has planned. I don't know why but I could see TK giving a bone to the Hart family by booking Davey Boy Smith Jr as the Joker, even in a first-round loss to Samoa Joe. Anyway, I expect Joe vs Cole to be the finals of the Men's Owen Hart tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Coffey said: I think it's a combination of too much ROH stuff & too many ex-NXT guys. AEW is losing their identity. I would disagree with the later in that three years in, they are still building their identity. That being said, if the Bucks & Omega end up leaving for whatever reasons, yes, that's definitely a part of the identity changing big time. That being said, I agree the ROH stuff gets confusing. It's kinda cool in a way (not gonna lie, I do enjoy it and I did not even really watched ROH before), but still, it makes for titles matches for a company that exists but doesn't run anymore, that isn't a main part of the AEW brand (I mean, it's not their developmental, and for the "mainstream" part of the audience it looks like a secondary kinda phantom promotion) and which takes time on the TV that isn't given to actual "AEW" storylines (although of course, it's all AEW storylines anyway). Clearly the ROH titles aren't over unless it's a guy like Joe carrying one (because Joe is over with AEW no matter what). But it will take some time until TK figures out what happens with ROH, especially as far as do they get some TV or streaming deals. Until then, ROH titles are gonna be part of the picture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 What's funny to me is that the ROH tag and TV titles have been regularly on AEW programming and the world title hasn't. IIRC Jonathan Gresham has been backstage at several shows and obviously has some kind of deal in place since TK kept the belt on him. Also I don't get the idea that "too many NXT guys" are a problem. I know most of us are puzzled by it, but Adam Cole is one f the most over people in the company right now. The only other NXT guys are Fish and O'Reilly and they've mostly been used as soldiers for Cole. Unless of course someone is trying to be cute and include Keith Lee in that discussion. It reminds me of the concern trolls who were saying having Jericho and Moxley as the first two champions meant AEW was doing the LOLTNA deal of pushing all ex-WWE guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 27 minutes ago, sek69 said: What's funny to me is that the ROH tag and TV titles have been regularly on AEW programming and the world title hasn't. IIRC Jonathan Gresham has been backstage at several shows and obviously has some kind of deal in place since TK kept the belt on him. Gresham is still injured from that match with Dalton Castle a few weeks back. 27 minutes ago, sek69 said: Also I don't get the idea that "too many NXT guys" are a problem. I know most of us are puzzled by it, but Adam Cole is one f the most over people in the company right now. The only other NXT guys are Fish and O'Reilly and they've mostly been used as soldiers for Cole. Unless of course someone is trying to be cute and include Keith Lee in that discussion. It reminds me of the concern trolls who were saying having Jericho and Moxley as the first two champions meant AEW was doing the LOLTNA deal of pushing all ex-WWE guys. Yeah, to me the idea that there is too much "NXT people" doesn't make sense. Workers have to come from somewhere. When AEW debuted, the criticism was that these were all "indy geeks", with the idea that Kenny Omega never was a draw for NJPW anyway and would never draw in the US (that aged like milk). You can't have it both ways. Since the pro-wrestling landscape was basically divided into WWE / indies & Japan/Mexico for almost 20 years, and since WWE had a policy of signing everyone under the sun to provide for their NXT brand even before they got threatened, well, sure there are gonna be "NXT guys" (well, from the black and gold era at least) on the roster if you want to sign new quality people. Plus, if you look at actual facts, Adam Cole has been in NXT for 4 years. He's been in ROH for 8 years before that point. Same for reDragons (Fish also worked in NOAH before). Shane Strickland and Keith Lee really had a cup of coffee in WWE. The perception that they are "NXT guys" really rewrite the narrative in a very WWE light, as if they weren't names before on the indies or Japan (Adam Cole was over as fuck in ROH, Keith Lee was an "internet darling", whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean, reDragons were NJ regulars when the company was super hot from the bottom to the top of the cards). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 5 hours ago, MoS said: Is it me or does the build to Double or Nothing feel uncharacteristically lukewarm for an AEW PPV? I feel the same way. Unless something ramps up quickly, it will be an easy miss for me. Will AEW still deliver a banger of a PPV? I'm sure. But I'm also sure I can save my $50 and feel fine about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted May 11, 2022 Report Share Posted May 11, 2022 The AEW/NXT thing to me is purely aesthetics. I really don’t care to see similar matchups that were done to death in NXT, and Tony thankfully has avoided it. I think a lot of it also has to do with guys who have ceilings and have basically hit them, which can be said for many of the NXT guys as a whole. Swerve is nice to look at aesthetically but has don’t really nothing since his arrival. Cole came, got pushed to the top, but it was obviously being done only until guys like Punk were built up enough. There are more matches people want to see Punk have with certain guys than probably anyone in the company. Again: People forget there’s only 3 hours of TBS/TNT time. Only so many mouths to feed. That’s just a fact. I love how folks talk about how Wrestler X needs more time or a push, yet once you do the math of who would not get that screen time once Wrestler X gets featured, you realize they are where they should be. Everyone should be higher on the card until you realize there’s no more room there. And veterans are obviously willing to give young guys the opportunity to shine, which only helps how Tony puts together his shows. So Yuta and Garcia and the like get the rub and it works out in the end. I’d rather have that than NXT guys get pushed to the front of the line because it’s better long term for how you develop talent. I’m sure that when a TV contract is reached? You’re going to get the opportunity for more guys to get exposure, but I think it’s clear that Tony is trying to build up new stars as authentically as possible, which you can’t really do with the NXT guys. Cole is basically the best case scenario, and I’m more interested what he does after the Elite dream match at All Out that’s obviously coming. Tony is bringing in guys he likes, giving them a shot in one way or another, and then sees how they do. I know I’ve criticized him for staying the course a bit too much (not nearly to the extent Vince does, thankfully) but it seems like he’s quick to jump ship on something that doesn’t fit more often than not. Give it another year to see how it works out given everyone you want on your roster will finally be healthy, and I think you finally get the stability you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Oh yeah, I forgot they are in Long Island tonight, AEW's Bizarro World where MJF gets babyface pops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Breaking News: Dax is having a goddamn great match Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Gotta admit I did not expect Dax to be this good of a babyface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 This match is good, but it just feels a step off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 "Our chemistry embraces one another" Da hell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 2 minutes ago, Blehschmidt said: This match is good, but it just feels a step off. I'm with stro when it comes to Adam Cole dominating matches like he's Tenryu or something. I just can't suspend my disbelief when he works like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 SILVERMANIA RUNNIN WILD in Long Island, brother Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 LMAO at that buckshot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Holy Shit, Barry Horowitz appearing to call someone a jobber just made my night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Not too many people could pull off looking like the nicest dude in the world AND the scariest dude in the world, but Joe pulls it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Well, that was a great match with a shit ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Jesus Christ, Darby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Dragon Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Dear Tony Khan. I thought you were a genius. You had a tournament block were I thought the Joker was Claudio and you could run Joe/Fenix/Allin matches and I was convinced you were a genius. You obviously aren't going that direction, so I just want to say: If you are actually dumb enough to have Johnny Fucking Gargano be the Joker, and have him in the finals against Adam Fucking Cole, every good thing I've ever thought of you as a booker will just serve to show I don't know shit. That is a terrible terrible idea, and I hate that I'm starting to think it's what is happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragemaster Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 Anyone else had bad vibes when Darby jumped off that later with Martha hart as a guest of the show, in a Owen Hart tournament match. That dive almost went so wrong, Tony needs to stop allowing such dangerous stunts before it ends badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strobogo Posted May 12, 2022 Report Share Posted May 12, 2022 I'm truly amazed Darby hasn't had a catastrophic injury on live TV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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