Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[NintendoLogic]

6 hours ago, sek69 said:

It sure seems in retrospect AEW's biggest misstep has been grabbing any and everyone they could without considering the effect it would have on the locker room. It's great having a bunch of great workers, but then you have to deal with the equally sized egos that go along with that. 

If nothing else, bringing in guys whose only loyalty is to a paycheck makes it likely that some of them will try to undermine the company from within, like when Bobby Fish tried to convince Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly to ask for their releases so they could all go back to WWE.

[Dav'oh]

I read "he cried backstage about getting hit" to mean he complained, had a sook, threw a wobbly. He didn't cry from getting hit, rather about it.

It's easy to imagine Andrade saying to a friend, "the litle bitch was crying to TK cos I lit his bitch-ass up in there! The little bitch!"

I also doubt any of it's true, so it's a bit moot.

[El-P]

Sammy's resume in AEW is nothing but terrific work. Andrade has been super hit and miss (including when he showed up in AAA). Sammy has been over as a heel, as a babyface and now super over as a heel alongside Tay (they really should push them to the moon too, they are just a perfect heel act). Andrade never got nearly the same reactions (granted not helped by booking either) and has been completely overshadowed by Rush in a span of a few weeks. And I like Andrade as a worker. But come on now, there's no comparison between the two in term of output in the last few years.  Andrade's social media work is all about him not wanting to be in AEW. Not sure having guys like this in your locker room in the best thing. Not to say Sammy is not kind of a douchebag, but whatever case may be, he's making the most out of it as a character.

[Migs]

8 hours ago, sek69 said:

It sure seems in retrospect AEW's biggest misstep has been grabbing any and everyone they could without considering the effect it would have on the locker room. It's great having a bunch of great workers, but then you have to deal with the equally sized egos that go along with that. 

Yeah. At the time, the dumb complaint was that they were going "over budget." That's not the problem. The problem is they did a poor job of finding ways to integrate all the new talent while keeping their young stars moving forward. Maybe it was an impossible task. But guys like Andrade and Black and Matthews all read like missteps, because the whole vibe around them was "they're getting underpushed!" and they then walked into a promotion where there was just no way to push them much harder than they've already been. They'd have been better off letting many of these people go to Impact and seeing who got hot.

[Al]

The problem is if you're not bringing in guys to be main eventers who are more over than your current top talent, then you're just filling roles that are already covered by existing talent. That's not going to go over well with your existing roster, especially when they don't spike business.

[Champagne]

10 hours ago, sek69 said:

It sure seems in retrospect AEW's biggest misstep has been grabbing any and everyone they could without considering the effect it would have on the locker room. It's great having a bunch of great workers, but then you have to deal with the equally sized egos that go along with that. 

A masterstroke from Vince, really—recall his “I’m not so sure what their investments are as far as their talent is concerned... but perhaps we can give them some more.” comment. He knew Tony Khan wouldn't be able to resist adding WWE's castoffs to his roster and the negative effects the bloat would have on AEW.

[MoS]

4 hours ago, Matt D said:

Now I want to see Rush vs Kingston.

One of the more amusing aspects of all the AEW backstage gossip and rumours is the fact that of all people, Rush has been extremely well-behaved and has caused no issues whatsoever. 

[KawadaSmile]

3 minutes ago, MoS said:

One of the more amusing aspects of all the AEW backstage gossip and rumours is the fact that of all people, Rush has been extremely well-behaved and has caused no issues whatsoever. 

He's been playing the long game for a while. Workers gonna work!

[MoS]

 

Ricky Starks is an absolute rockstar and he deserves at least as much of a push as Yuta, Garcia, and Sammy.

[El-P]

Yeah, Starks should be the next one to be heavily focused on. He's the total package.

[KawadaSmile]

21 minutes ago, MoS said:

 

Ricky Starks is an absolute rockstar and he deserves at least as much of a push as Yuta, Garcia, and Sammy.

He is truly one of a kind. I wish they focused on him as much as they did with MJF - he was basically relegated to Rampage which just isn't a very popular show.

[El-P]

Holy shit. 

And Whatever his name is The Assistant is siding with Andrade, I guess hoping he would get a job wherever Andrade ends up (I have no idea why, the guy has brought literally zilch to the act since day one).

And whether it's legit or not (if they end up beating the everloving shit out of each other in the ring in the end, fine), it's time for TK to be a boss and stop all the nonsense going on in his company.

[KawadaSmile]

Also there was some drama about Ten Guy (Shawn Spears, not #10) talking about wanting to leave the company, which then Sammy tweeted, without @ 'ing anyone, that he was a favor hire (to Cody, most likely). 

This is all amusing but it cannot lead to good things on the long run. 

[Coffey]

I just find it hilarious that Sammy Guevara of all people is calling anyone a jobber. LMFAO.

[El-P]

Shawn Spears contract may have expired. The highlight of his AEW career was playing off Wardlow during the early MJF angle, he was really funny then (and really more interesting to watch than Wardlow). He was also really good as an early Dark announcer. It's not like he was ever a difference in the company, he was one of Cody's guy and he's having a kid with Cassie Lee. I wouldn't mind him in IMPACT, he could be fun in a small pond. In WWE he would be basically nothing again I guess. Super solid worker though. 

[Jmare007]

14 hours ago, sek69 said:

It sure seems in retrospect AEW's biggest misstep has been grabbing any and everyone they could without considering the effect it would have on the locker room. It's great having a bunch of great workers, but then you have to deal with the equally sized egos that go along with that. 

There was a middle ground were Tony could've signed them for short term deals so he could use them to get other people over. Instead of just having them as priced toys in the shelf and using them randomly or having weeks or months without booking them, it would've been better to get a 6 month focused run and then off they go. And if the talent was a hit, you extend him/her.

 

 

Also, Starks not only their best prospect but also the voice of reason.

[C.S.]

Sammy comes across as such an unprofessional douchebag, but he's 100% right that Andrade has not gotten himself over in either WWE (main roster) or AEW.

[strobogo]

Sammy seems like a vortex of drama

[C.S.]

Dan Lambert confirms he's gone.

https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1038005/dan-lambert-gives-major-update-on-his-aew-status/

He doesn't mention any of the drama, but I do wonder if he saw the bullshit happening around him and noped out.

[sek69]

My takeaway from all this is that Ricky Starks is a goddamn legend. 

[Timbo Slice]

Sammy Guevara and MJF are both edgelord pillars; need to fucking figure out how to actually do something more than put themselves over to be worth a damn. Sammy’s shit is so tired on social media for so many reasons, least of all that he couldn’t figure out a way forward that doesn’t include making sure he gets the most shine. The Kingston shit fell on Eddie because Sammy can’t figure out how to do anything other than the lowest common denominator bullshit. It’s just so damn stupid. All of it. The shoot shit is so tiresome. It doesn’t make me interested in anything on any side. 

[sek69]

At least with MJF you get the sense that he's just kayfabing 24/7, Sammy comes off as actually a douchebag more often than not.  

[sek69]

Meanwhile during all of this, Adam Cole is playing Super Mario RPG on his Twitch channel moisturized and unbothered. 

[DMJ]

- I was wondering where Dan Lambert was. I know he wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but he got heat. I'd have kept him around. I know Stokely has a great rep, but I haven't seen the greatness yet. 

- TK has a real chance for a do-over and I hope he takes it. Yes, he's got 3 hours to fill a week and Dark/Elevation (though, does he really need to fill those hours and how much a roster do you really need for those? Video packages and squash matches don't necessitate a roster as bloated as he has). Its time to trim the fat and I'd start with the malcontents. I'm an Andrade fan...but I think he's a guy who needs a better coach and TK is not it. In Triple H's NXT, he came off as a star. In AEW, from the gimp mask to the baseball pants to the bland, useless manager, the entire presentation needs to be thrown away. Maybe if he were to go back to WWE, Triple H would put him back with Zelina and they could see if what worked in NXT would work again. (And if Andrade getting cut means his friends leave too, so be it.)

I'll say the same about Black and Miro and FTR and Punk. 

Though, optimistically, I hope that if they trim some of the fat, Miro and FTR would be featured more and then be happier.

- If you can't find something fun to do with Danhausen for Halloween, you clearly have no use for Danhausen. I like the guy and would guess that he has some good ideas to pitch - maybe listen to them. If they're shitty, cut him loose. Here's a free one if you're reading this, TK: pair him with Abadon and make it Jade's October storyline. 

 

Basically, TK needs to sit down and really look at what 25 wrestlers/performers he needs. Break that 25 into who he wants to push - maybe 15, the other 10 on the backburner. Then look at what additional 15 wrestlers he needs to fill out shows. Basically, pretend like you can't afford everyone. Like you didn't cheat your Extreme Warfare Revenge game by editing the file to start with the maximum amount of money.

Based on a random google search, the AEW roster is over 150 performers (one website has it as 180). But lets be extra conservative and say 120 for 3 hours of TV and no house shows. I'll rewrite that for emphasis: 120 performers for 180 minutes and zero house shows.

If it was 75 wrestlers, that would be too many for 3 hours of TV and no house shows. But its not 75. Its 50 more than that conservatively and maybe as much as 100 more than that. More performers than you actually have minutes to show in a given week and, technically, it only takes two wrestlers, a referee, and 2 announcers to fill 20 minutes at a time. 

This roster shouldn't be more than 60-70, so the fact that it is at least 2.5x that, well, maybe one can imagine why Andrade might feel like he's not getting enough screen time or the chance to become a star when the shows he's on also feature guys like Lee Moriarty and Ryan Nemeth (who I like). 

Its a bit hard to call your wrestling company "all elite" when its 130 wrestlers that nobody really cares about and 30 that are inexplicably fighting them for airtime.

And also, as I wrote about in the last page, hard to sell the concept of "all elite" wrestling to potential ticket buyers when you're being asked to buy a ticket to a show headlined by John Silver vs. Rush instead of, y'know, any single one of the dozen guys you have on your roster who've actually main evented a major show for a major promotion in the past decade (including your own). 

[El-P]

20 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Meanwhile during all of this, Adam Cole is playing Super Mario RPG on his Twitch channel moisturized and unbothered. 

He's a smart guy. He's either coming back whenever his health allows it as the savior and be super over while being an IRL good guy and a professional , either gonna end up back in WWE getting a megastar reaction in a few years and as Trip & Shawn's boy, you know he's gonna be taken care of. 

11 minutes ago, DMJ said:

- If you can't find something fun to do with Danhausen for Halloween, you clearly have no use for Danhausen. I like the guy and would guess that he has some good ideas to pitch - maybe listen to them. If they're shitty, cut him loose. Here's a free one if you're reading this, TK: pair him with Abadon and make it Jade's October storyline. 

Danhausen still gets big pop, but in term of what he actually does, he's been completely meh to me after the first few times. He's Santino Morella. Is Abadon still around ? She really came off like a third rate Su Yung / Rosemary to me, never saw the appeal (especially when her work was not good anyway).

11 minutes ago, DMJ said:

- TK has a real chance for a do-over and I hope he takes it. Yes, he's got 3 hours to fill a week and Dark/Elevation (though, does he really need to fill those hours and how much a roster do you really need for those? Video packages and squash matches don't necessitate a roster as bloated as he has). Its time to trim the fat and I'd start with the malcontents.

Pretty much. I would also work on the inner pace of the shows. Backstage segments feel super rushed usually. The fact they never replay any spots after the matches also gives the show a feel of everything being way too rushed and moving way too fast from stuff that just happened. I don't need a comeback to the Nitro style (although I loved it) but for fuck's sake when Toni Storm does a second rope piledriver to win, you need to show that shit 5 times in a row including in slow-mo during the post match and let the celebration breathe a bit.