sek69 Posted September 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 21 minutes ago, Matt D said: I remember having talks with some people here a few years ago about how all wrestling felt homogeneous, that Japan, Mexico, England, the Indies, NXT all seemed like they were converging more and more. What we've seen in the last twelve months is AEW becoming more of a "big tent" promotion stylistically and that can only be a good thing. I know it makes people who were in love with the lead up and onset and first year or two of the promotion frustrated but it's now this melting pot of the 2010s New Japan style and the PWG style and the BCC/Mox+Danielson-as-Hansen style and the Punk/FTR sort of Neo-Bret-ism and a bit of the hosses-bealing-people bits and whatever else. It's a big promotion putting a lot of matches on every week, every month, every year and there's something for everyone even if it's not everything for someone anymore. They did Lucha Brothers vs Los Ingobernales, which both AAA and CMLL would have killed for (well maybe not CMLL because they hold stupid grudges forever). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Ewiak Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 1 hour ago, sek69 said: I mean, AEW as an entity was willed into existence due to the growing base of pro wrestling fans who were beyond tired with WWE's hamster wheel of the last 20 years. What better person to lead that charge than the guy famous for being sick of WWE's bullshit? Like the only difference between Punk and Moxley is that Mox didn't have a very public falling out with his best friend. I mean, we have to remember, we're all old guys here, mostly. We grew up w/ Punk's and other guys in his generation rise. There's a whole mini-generation of younger hardcore fans who's way into the smart scene was New Japan, Omega and Being the Elite on Youtube, after Punk had gone to his really nice apartment building in Chicago for the past seven years. To that group of fans, that I see semi-regularly on Twitter and Reddit, Punk wasn't the guy leading the charge - he was the guy sitting on his ass for the past few years until he got a big enough check (and also, people are memory holing brave CM Punk's short return to the WWE, proving I think to many people it's not some brave, but a paycheck), since it sure wasn't Punk building the indies, bringing New Japan to prominence, betting on themselves to create a PPV, etc. Obviously, Punk is somewhat a draw (though not the kind of draw that people online and Punk were claiming last year), but if you already believe, as many smart fans do, that you shouldn't appease the casuals, why should they care Punk brings in fans? As somebody who actually thinks both sides are wrong, both the Omega/BTE/early AEW and the Punk/etc. fanboys, I can only say Let Them Fight. I could also an "everything for everyone" instead of a three ring circus is instead just a Golden Corral instead, where everything blends together and nothing stands out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin' Brian Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 8 hours ago, Al said: On brand for the television champion And now I want whoever has the TV Championship to have their own TV show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin' Brian Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 6 hours ago, SirEdger said: If I'm an AEW woman reading that tweet, I'm absolutely livid. Regardless of gender, and I’m a Thunder Rosa fan, but if you rank the best talkers in the company I think CM Punk is far above Thunder Rosa. Anyone wanting to read more into it than that certainly can, but I don’t think any woman in the company should be angry that CM Punk gets more promo time than they do. He gets more promo time than almost anyone in the company, and rightfully so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirEdger Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 I'm not disputing that. But Thunder Rosa could've at least been able to go to the ring and make that announcement, rather than a 43-second promo. That made the women's title look insignificant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 Just now, SirEdger said: I'm not disputing that. But Thunder Rosa could've at least been able to go to the ring and make that announcement, rather than a 43-second promo. That made the women's title look insignificant. Just throwing this out there but that seems like a potentially bad idea given the circumstances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KawadaSmile Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 I think the whole point is that, while not wrong at all - TR is not a bigger draw than CM Punk - saying that out loud, openly, is not a good HR move. He's just not very good at that and I think he should delegate those interviews to someone who is able to sugarcoat certain stuff. Or just stop with them altogether. Saying Swole was a bad wrestler on Twitter, saying TR is not a big draw... not things your boss should be putting in front of everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dav'oh Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 33 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said: Saying Swole was a bad wrestler on Twitter, saying TR is not a big draw... not things your boss should be putting in front of everyone We're not blind. TK didn't put those facts out there, they were already there for all to see. If he said Swole was a good wrestler or Rosa was a draw, I could see a problem. I don't have a problem with honesty. It's especially refreshing to hear it from someone in power - I really don't want Tony to hire a spin-doctor with empty weasel-words, fudging and obfuscating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted September 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 The boss shouldn't be so blunt though. His job is to emphasize strengths and hide weaknesses. It doesn't do anyone any favors to be all "well we all know Rosa sucks at promos, but what can you do? Amirite?" There's a middle ground between being that and super buzzword-empty weasel words though. I will say that particular promo was probably done backstage due to the circumstances more than anything else. She had been given the chance to cut promos in front of the live crowd before though, and most of them died a death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 And hypothetically if the circumstances were that she’s been uncooperative and dangerous with opponents and was trying to find a way out of doing a job and couldn’t cover for that in a genuine and sympathetic way in front of a live crowd? Some of which potentially also being why Tony is publicly using a true ratings argument instead of really throwing her under a bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dav'oh Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 He's asked questions constantly by an incredibly gossip- sorry, inquisitive - fanbase, across a range of forums. He seems to answer honestly and openly. He has a dialogue with the fans. Tony is not beholden to shareholders. He's beholden to the fans and his coke dealer (sorry, couldn't resist). 3 hours ago, sek69 said: His job is to emphasize strengths and hide weaknesses Through his booking. He can't hide the ratings, he can't hide Swole's release or initial comments. I don't think there should be a middle-ground between forthrightness and corporate gobbledygook. He's asked why the ground is wet and he says because it's raining. Anything else would be insulting. Pissing on the ground and saying it's raining is WWE's way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strobogo Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 I love that Miro consistently refers to the House of Black as "The Pagans". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 Tony needs to give Ace Steel a raise because that man just got me to order All Out. What a fucking total home run of a segment, it’s almost completely justified and retroactively improved the last few months of really middling shows. Everything else was good too but man, that’s more like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 Also, the joker has to be Joe so we can get Joe vs Punk at Arthur Ashe, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted September 2, 2022 Report Share Posted September 2, 2022 I know this comparison has been made elsewhere, and initially I didn't like to use it because it seemed like a simplification or over-generalization, but the longer it goes, the more AEW really does start to remind me of WCW. I remember back in 97/98, the booking in WCW was pretty bad...but I usually used to order their PPV's anyhow because there was so much talent, you were pretty much guaranteed to see a good show regardless of the storylines behind the matches. I honestly used to feel that even when they were on top, WCW used to succeed almost in spite of themselves. I am the first one to criticize AEW, but I'm not denying they put out a good product...and a product that is generally superior to anything else available in North America, especially WWE. The thing that annoys me is that while AEW is very good, they could be even better. They could be great. I'm sorry, I just don't understand what the hell Tony Khan is trying to accomplish about half the time. And his inconsistency drives me nuts. Stuff gets started and then stopped, angles get dropped, talent disappears of TV for no reason, or an act gets really hot and then aren't featured on TV for weeks. One week Dynamite is an excellent show, the next week it's hard to sit through. It's very frustrating being an AEW fan a lot of the time. Look at the AEW roster. With all that talent, you'd be hard pressed to book a show that wouldn't be good. To me, Forbidden Door was the perfect example of that. I had no idea what the hell Tony Khan was trying to do leading into that show, it was like he was writing Dynamite while he was doing a combination of speed and mescaline or something. But the PPV was outstanding. I'm ordering All Out, of course. And I'm sure some of the matches are going to be great. But I do wish somebody was booking AEW that was consistent and had a bit better grasp of long term storytelling. As far as management style? i don't always put a lot of stock in internet rumors or so-called "dirt sheet" reporting, but where there is smoke, there has to be some fire. I guess Tony Khan even admitted himself when he was on Busted Open recently, that the story of a major meeting with the entire roster was true due to all the backstage drama going on. And that's pretty much on Tony Khan himself, not knowing how to delegate or manage his massive roster. And the dude seriously has a habit of saying stuff online and in interviews he probably shouldn't be saying...but then turning around and not saying what he should. Not only does he need a booker, he probably needs a PR representative as well. It's kind of funny...if AEW succeeds, the person who deserves most of the credit in the end will probably be Tony Khan. But conversely if it doesn't succeed, or if it fails to reach it's full potential due to inconsistent and poorly thought out booking, and overall managerial ineptitude, the person responsible for that will also be Tony Khan. I think a lot of the problems people are talking about in this thread and elsewhere can be directly attributed to his inability to delegate. Like I said, it won't stop me from ordering the PPV, but it also doesn't stop being an AEW fan from being kind of aggravating some of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 Whiney babyface Dax Harwood stinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 22 hours ago, Stiva said: Also, the joker has to be Joe so we can get Joe vs Punk at Arthur Ashe, right? MJF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 8 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said: Whiney babyface Dax Harwood stinks. He's channeling his hero Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embrodak Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 MJF has to be actually in trouble, right? There’s absolutely zero reason to stretch the storyline out this long unless he was actually serving penance for the no-show and for publicly talking shit about how unhappy he was with his contract situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 4 hours ago, DR Ackermann said: MJF I can see the thought process but then you’re going with the story that Tony Khan brings him back to the company after his unprofessional rant and puts him straight in a number one contender match. It’d blow the roof off the place, I know that for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 Yeah maybe he is the Joker in the Casino Match tomorrow. Because aside from Claudio, I can’t see any of those other guys actually winning a World Title shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 3 hours ago, Embrodak said: MJF has to be actually in trouble, right? There’s absolutely zero reason to stretch the storyline out this long unless he was actually serving penance for the no-show and for publicly talking shit about how unhappy he was with his contract situation. As wrestling fans we tend to over speculate about everything, but couldn't it just boil down to the fact that their was (allegedly) an issue that they turned into a storyline and decided to give MJF some time off so the return would be a bigger deal? TKs booking patterns favor extended absences and give wrestlers lots of breaks. TK said that after this PPV AEW's roster would be the strongest it's ever been and hinted at a surprise. He's known to deliver on stuff like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Thread Killer Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 4 minutes ago, DR Ackermann said: TK said that after this PPV AEW's roster would be the strongest it's ever been and hinted at a surprise. He's known to deliver on stuff like that. Yeah but he already signed Christian Cage so how’s he ever going to top that surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 3 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said: Yeah but he already signed Christian Cage so how’s he ever going to top that surprise. That was a Paul Wight promise, technically! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted September 3, 2022 Report Share Posted September 3, 2022 TK's quote about the roster being the strongest it's been boils down the Joker to MJF, Cole or Joe so I think all y'all have a valid point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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