AEW TV 11/30 - 12/2 - Things and Stuff

[sek69]

Just now, NintendoLogic said:

Yeah, she was really praising him when she all but called him a racist. That was the whole reason he opened fire on her when he was initially content to portray it as a mutual parting of ways.

He said it was a mutual parting of ways, she called him a racist, and he was like "you know what, we let you go because you were the shits in the ring"

[KawadaSmile]

32 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Yeah, she was really praising him when she all but called him a racist. That was the whole reason he opened fire on her when he was initially content to portray it as a mutual parting of ways.

She did say there were representation issues that should've been worked on, which is far from scathing criticism. I think that's a very uncharitable interpretation of her interview, all things considered.

[Coffey]

I love Regal & think he's great, but with all his past addiction issues, it feels a bit hypocritical to get on the young kids because they spend time on their phones. I mean, yeah, sure, maybe they should be seeking out advice from veterans more to improve at professional wrestling... but at least they're not fucked up on drugs, right?

Also, if AEW is anything like other wrestling promotions have been, the people are going to be sitting around for HOURS before the show, so you need some way to occupy your time because you're not going to "sit under the learning tree" for six hours every week before bell time. 

[The Thread Killer]

So Tony Khan made it official today during the ROH media call. Regal did have an out clause in his contract, and he asked Tony Khan to exercise it so he could go back and work as a coach in WWE, and Khan allowed it. Sounds like the only condition is that Regal cannot appear on WWE TV as an on screen character for the entire year 2023.

I guess one of the factors leading to Regal asking to go, was that he is just working in AEW as an on screen talent, whereas in WWE, he will be working as a coach. His son Charlie Dempsey/Bailey Mathews was one of the talents who survived the closure of NXT UK and is now on the NXT roster, and Regal apparently cited that as a big motivation for wanting to go back to WWE to help bring his kid along. It is pretty obvious from listening to Regal’s podcast that his passion is for coaching not for being on screen. So now that Vince is gone, it makes all the sense in the world that he wants to go back where he will be most useful.

[Matt D]

45 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

It is pretty obvious from listening to Regal’s podcast that his passion is for coaching not for being on screen. So now that Vince is gone, it makes all the sense in the world that he wants to go back where he will be most useful.

I wouldn't say that at all. He waxes poetic about being on screen and his body of work all the time. He's as prideful about his segments with Tajiri as he is with his matches, really. I think he was also enjoying the idea of being a "proper villain" and being booed again. He's just passionate about making wrestling better for younger people as well. Also, I think he did plenty of coaching in AEW. Guys like Moriarty and Yuta apparently spent a lot of time before shows working with him. At the end of the day, he seems to want to work with Hunter again and especially help see his kid through the early stages of his career, but I don't think for a second he wasn't absolutely loving the stuff he was doing on screen this year. Very much the opposite.

[The Thread Killer]

I think Regal loved the character based stuff he has done throughout his career. I think for a guy who is known as a great technical wrestler he has a vastly more open minded opinion of the “sports entertainment” aspect of Pro Wrestling than most other “technical” guys of his era. He gets how important that is.

But I think if you asked Regal to choose between being an on screen character and working as a coach and helping develop talent behind the scenes, he wouldn’t even bat an eye before jumping at the coaching job. I think he wants to share what he knows, and he’s going to have a vastly greater chance to do that in WWE. Plus he gets to work for his friend, and with his son.

The guy is a pro, through and through. He’s not going to have a negative word to say about AEW once he leaves, nor should he. His run there was successful in its own way. It was a great opportunity for him to work with his old friends. But it’s pretty obvious that if he had known when he got fired that Vince was going to be out and Triple H was going to be coming back in (in charge no less) there is no way he would’ve ever taken the job with AEW.

[Matt D]

If you made him choose, that's what he'd choose, sure. And he does have to choose right now. And he did choose.

But to say that Regal, in 2022, doesn't still have a passion for being on screen and doing entertaining things is incorrect. That's all. He could have said hi to Excalibur week after week and he would have been tickled by the idea of that.

 

[ragemaster]

35 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

I think for a guy who is known as a great technical wrestler

The great myth about Regal, he's average at best. But as a character on tv, one of the best, just for his entertainment value and comedic timing. 

[The Thread Killer]

37 minutes ago, ragemaster said:

The great myth about Regal, he's average at best.

Strongly disagree, but I am admittedly partial to his in ring style.

[ragemaster]

1 hour ago, The Thread Killer said:

Strongly disagree, but I am admittedly partial to his in ring style.

Compared to his comptemporaries as a technical wrestler, Johnny saint, Jim Breaks, Steve Grey, Vic Faulkner, Johnny Kidd etc he's average at best. 

His best matches are probably the brawls with Finlay, his best technical match in that style on tape is with Davey boy smith in WCW. Who himself had better matches as a technical wrestler back in the late 70's and early 80's. 

I like that ring style, but he was hardly top 10 at doing it. He just was the only one in America with national tv exposure doing it, so he stood out as someone different and unique at the time.

 

[NintendoLogic]

Regal may have had contemporaries who were better technicians, but they were all in the lighter weight classes, which tend to be more technical in every combat sport. I don't know if there's been a better heavyweight technical wrestler in the past 30 years.

[ragemaster]

Regal technical skills is a bit more advanced than what Hogan's was in japan, when you say heavyweight technical wrestler as in the British style, he probably was the best, with that parameter being set in the last 30 years.

But not anywhere near Billy Robinson level, who may have been the best heavyweight of all time technical wrestler. Nor did he evolve it or move it forward like other wrestling styles have been advanced from the 70's. 

Regal skill in the ring was his whole act, he wasn't wrestling 4 or 5 star classics, it was his demeaner and how he carried himself around the ring, with very little actual technical wrestling involved in his matches. Just enough to stand out and be different in the ring from what other people was doing.  

[ragemaster]

48 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Regal may have had contemporaries who were better technicians, but they were all in the lighter weight classes, which tend to be more technical in every combat sport. I don't know if there's been a better heavyweight technical wrestler in the past 30 years.

I suppose i should say I can't name one more heavyweight of Regal size in the last 30 years doing that style, so does that make him the best, because he's the only one in the race?

 

[Matt D]

14 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

I think Regal loved the character based stuff he has done throughout his career. I think for a guy who is known as a great technical wrestler he has a vastly more open minded opinion of the “sports entertainment” aspect of Pro Wrestling than most other “technical” guys of his era. He gets how important that is.

But I think if you asked Regal to choose between being an on screen character and working as a coach and helping develop talent behind the scenes, he wouldn’t even bat an eye before jumping at the coaching job. I think he wants to share what he knows, and he’s going to have a vastly greater chance to do that in WWE. Plus he gets to work for his friend, and with his son.

The guy is a pro, through and through. He’s not going to have a negative word to say about AEW once he leaves, nor should he. His run there was successful in its own way. It was a great opportunity for him to work with his old friends. But it’s pretty obvious that if he had known when he got fired that Vince was going to be out and Triple H was going to be coming back in (in charge no less) there is no way he would’ve ever taken the job with AEW.

Koon very much took your position on the matter so I give you full credit for insightful listening here.

[NintendoLogic]

11 hours ago, ragemaster said:

I suppose i should say I can't name one more heavyweight of Regal size in the last 30 years doing that style, so does that make him the best, because he's the only one in the race?

Maybe not the best, but he was the gateway drug for a lot of people. Timothy Thatcher for one has pointed to Regal's matches with Flair on WCWSN as his introduction to the style.

[MoS]

I was going to mention Thatcher as a possible candidate for best technical heavyweight of the past 30 years, although it's a different grappling style. I know some who also rate Barnett very highly

[El-P]

ZSJ has no challengers. Not even close. Him, Tamura and Mariko Yoshida are (were) poetry in motion.

[ragemaster]

53 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Maybe not the best, but he was the gateway drug for a lot of people. Timothy Thatcher for one has pointed to Regal's matches with Flair on WCWSN as his introduction to the style.

I agree, my whole point, he was the only guy doing that style in the us at that time. 

[ragemaster]

13 minutes ago, El-P said:

ZSJ has no challengers. Not even close. Him, Tamura and Mariko Yoshida are (were) poetry in motion.

Yep ZSJ shows up the rose tinted glasses Regal been looked though

[Matt D]

The problem isn’t Regal so much as faulty conventional wisdom.

[Timbo Slice]

People think “technicians” are chain-wrestling freaks as opposed to masters of transition: Regal’s biggest strength was always finding the smallest advantage that may have been subtle to most, whereas the great “technicians” make a show out of those subtleties. ZSJ’s flashiness doesn’t make him better; it might make it easier to understand, but Regal’s effortlessness was the draw. He even made it more comedic when he went for a big technical move sometimes, something that was more a rite amongst English heavies since the technical proficiency of the juniors was such a big part of the draw. It’s also hilarious that Thatcher got brought up here given the discourse around him when he was at his peak and was similarly on an island. 

[El-P]

14 minutes ago, Timbo Slice said:

ZSJ’s flashiness doesn’t make him better;

ZSJ is not just "flashy" (plus his "flashiness" is part of his character of being a douchebag to his opponents) . He's absolutely a master of transitions too. He can also be comedic, dramatic, epic, whatever you want, he's done it, his body of work is just incredible. People just take him for granted at this point. And I'm willing to bet that the first guy who would tell you that ZSJ is a much better technical pro-wrestler and a better worker is Regal himself.

Fun fact, Will Ospreay is actually terrific at the style too. His match with ZSJ this year was a clinic.

 

[MoS]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

ZSJ has no challengers. Not even close. Him, Tamura and Mariko Yoshida are (were) poetry in motion.

None of them are proper heavyweights though

[El-P]

6 minutes ago, MoS said:

None of them are proper heavyweights though

ZSJ has been a heavyweight in NJPW for ever. There was no weight distinction in shoot-style. And Yoshida was not competing in "junior" divisions either, whatever they were in women's wrestling at the time. And really I don't see how the weight class is a factor at all.

The thing is, "technical wrestler" has often been a gimmick in itself. And don't get me wrong, I thought Regal was terrific at it. The best, nope, but obviously excellent. But some people that were called "technical wrestlers" in US wrestling were basically guys working limbs and shit. 

[ragemaster]

I have to reread it, but Regal admits in his own book from memory he's not a great wrestler. Also if we comparing transitions in matches, watch Dory/funk or The Destroyer.