Lets Discuss All Things Wrestling - Even The T-Shirt Company AEW!

[Deadpulse]

4 minutes ago, Dr LBC said:

Fits the look, but doesn't fit the angle (i.e. "sacrificed my nature to be a people pleaser, but eff them now") they're working with it.  If anyone that isn't Rhea, the one that would fit it the best would be to bring back a dark (not just in persona, but far less colorful) Asuka.

I admittedly haven't watched since 2.0 happened, but for my money Io has been a tweener for a long while. The riding the line narrative fits for her IMO. I don't hate the Asuka idea though. I just really want Io on the main roster in a favorable position. 

[Dr LBC]

1 minute ago, Deadpulse said:

I admittedly haven't watched since 2.0 happened, but for my money Io has been a tweener for a long while. The riding the line narrative fits for her IMO. I don't hate the Asuka idea though. I just really want Io on the main roster in a favorable position. 

I get it.  I just don't know that Io has the right personality for it.  Granted, the only promo exposure we've gotten of them is the Raw after Mania which is a smark-happy crowd who are marks for themselves as much as anything, but Edge and Damian last night both seemed to be embracing that they could make fun of the crowd, and make fun of them for being so mark-ish that they could be easily made to make fun of themselves for being marks.  And it's not the first subtle shot Edge has taken at this type of fan since his return (it's not lost on me that this is something that the FTR guys do from time to time in their promos too and they're good friends with Edge).  Asuka's personality could actually incorporate and take advantage of the language barrier for her because her non-verbals (the subtle and the clearly not) are so great.  Rhea, if it was her, really wouldn't have to change much because naturally she is a little bit of a ***** (she's admitted it) or at least, she's more of a private person that can get pretty standoffish when people encroach on her personal space.

There's also an absolutely perfect opportunity for Rhea if she were given the opportunity to get this over for a moment we really haven't seen since Sasha was in NXT taunting Izzy, the Bayley superfan, which was heel work the level we haven't really seen since from the women.  You find one of those girls that have been dressing up like Rhea when coming to live events, you zoom in on them Rhea is cutting a promo talking about how they've done nothing but make her soft and hold her back... and then when the girl starts crying, you have Rhea goad her and "awww crybaby" make fun of her.

Maybe it's just me, maybe it's me being too hopeful, but this is both a very Edge and very Hunter thing that they would make a gimmick out of blasting/taking-advantage-of the fans who think they're being edgy and cool by cheering heels - who are trying to get themselves over as heels.  Both guys came up with a very old school mentality (and both have been culprits of actively trying to "make heels cool" in the past, so maybe this is a bit of penance after Frankenstein's monster has gone more than a bit out of control).

[Troy Brown]

1 hour ago, Dr LBC said:

A few random and assorted thoughts from the RAWM:

- All in all, good promo from Cody.  I appreciate that it was left as a fairly simple thing as to why he came back.  There was an obvious "know your worth" angle he could have gone, but it wasn't really necessary.  I get that he was emotional, but dude does need to work on not crying quite so much.

Agree on the content of the promo being good but Jesus the Cody cadence is going to be a meme like HHH's promos. It feels like every time Cody is out to do a promo, he's trying to make it feel like the biggest deal in the world... which on some level is working since I can remember plenty of his promos off the top of me head but I also remember rolling my eyes to a lot of them. He's clearly a much better fit for WWE in just about every aspect.

I'm grateful for the work he did that got me back into wrestling (and jericho, the Bullet Club is fine era of Njpw had me hooked) but I just can't get down with this iteration of Cody. 

That entrance will also need some reworking. 

[Dr LBC]

49 minutes ago, Troy Brown said:

Agree on the content of the promo being good but Jesus the Cody cadence is going to be a meme like HHH's promos. It feels like every time Cody is out to do a promo, he's trying to make it feel like the biggest deal in the world... which on some level is working since I can remember plenty of his promos off the top of me head but I also remember rolling my eyes to a lot of them. He's clearly a much better fit for WWE in just about every aspect.

I'm grateful for the work he did that got me back into wrestling (and jericho, the Bullet Club is fine era of Njpw had me hooked) but I just can't get down with this iteration of Cody. 

That entrance will also need some reworking. 

Well, and I mean he did note in both his Ariel Heilwani interview and his post-Mania presser that it shouldn't be anyone's surprise that Hunter is/was his favorite wrestler (part of the reason he was doing the bits that were not-so-veiled shots at HHH was because he was confident Hunter would have done them were the positions switched - and yeah, if he had the latitude to be confident he wouldn't have been punished for it, Hunter absolutely would have).  Honestly, the trick to getting consistent good quality promos out of Cody is the same as it was for Hunter - limit his time.  Both overthink and overplan stuff WAAAAY too much, because each was trying to emulate someone they're not.  Cody isn't going to ever be his dad - hell, the "son of a plumber" promo wasn't even in Dusty's Top 5, just the best known... and just like so many of the others, Dusty was going off the cuff on those.  Hunter was always trying to do some weird combo of Ric and Lemmy.  For all the exposure that he got to Hall and Nash, he never quite picked up on their ability to bring some casualness to his delivery; X-Pac is the same way as Hunter is.  I think, less so to Waltman here, the issue does lay largely in ego - which none of Nash, Hall, Hunter, or Shawn were shy on - but that Hunter and Shawn were most guilty of loving to hear themselves talk, whereas Hall and Nash just loved having the attention... because attention, they knew, tended to translate into more money.

[sdrawkcab321]

Now that Austin had a comeback match it really makes me wish we could have seen austin punk 10 years ago. I wonder what happened in between that made austin decide he wanted one more match and why it couldn’t have happened with punk when Austin was 10 years younger. 

[Fresh Prince]

15 hours ago, sdrawkcab321 said:

Now that Austin had a comeback match it really makes me wish we could have seen austin punk 10 years ago. I wonder what happened in between that made austin decide he wanted one more match and why it couldn’t have happened with punk when Austin was 10 years younger. 

Texas and More money maybe

[Troy Brown]

Matt spitting in Dax's face before the bte trigger last night was an all time AEW moment for me. Hard to argue against FTR for best in the world right now

[Dr LBC]

8 hours ago, Troy Brown said:

Matt spitting in Dax's face before the bte trigger last night was an all time AEW moment for me. Hard to argue against FTR for best in the world right now

I've been in that camp for more than 3 years now, but I run into so many people that insists it's the Buck because "they can work anyone's style," and even that I disagree with.  The Bucks, like but  not to the degree of FTR, can work anyone and work anyone's match.  They do some poor facsimiles of certain pro wrestling styles that come across as much as caricature as anything (and has only recently been saved in the last year or so by their being the trolly heels).

It'll never happen, and I still can't shake the feeling that the Bucks are ultimately going to put themselves over in a match where all the belts are on the line for the rubber match so that they can do a Kenny and walk around with a ton of belts at a time, but given that Dax and Cash are legitimate shooters, I'd love to see Matt go for the spit in Dax's face again in that rubber match and Dax to just goozle him, stuff him to the mat, and then just wail haymakers on him.

That's the one thing that doesn't work about the gawkish, troll heel gimmick the Bucks are working (which isn't that far from reality... which probably answers my own question), they don't get their comeuppance nearly enough.

[rob_shadows]

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/cm/wwe-hall-famer-involved-fatal-033427692.html

If she was under the influence that's probably it for her, long term prison sentence is pretty much a certainty with her history. 

[Troy Brown]

5 hours ago, Dr LBC said:

I've been in that camp for more than 3 years now, but I run into so many people that insists it's the Buck because "they can work anyone's style," and even that I disagree with.  The Bucks, like but  not to the degree of FTR, can work anyone and work anyone's match.  They do some poor facsimiles of certain pro wrestling styles that come across as much as caricature as anything (and has only recently been saved in the last year or so by their being the trolly heels).

It'll never happen, and I still can't shake the feeling that the Bucks are ultimately going to put themselves over in a match where all the belts are on the line for the rubber match so that they can do a Kenny and walk around with a ton of belts at a time, but given that Dax and Cash are legitimate shooters, I'd love to see Matt go for the spit in Dax's face again in that rubber match and Dax to just goozle him, stuff him to the mat, and then just wail haymakers on him.

That's the one thing that doesn't work about the gawkish, troll heel gimmick the Bucks are working (which isn't that far from reality... which probably answers my own question), they don't get their comeuppance nearly enough.

oh yeah, I don't think the Bucks can work any style. That's clearly not the case. I don't think that's as important as being able to invest people in your matches and if you need a big match anywhere on the card, they'll give you one. I love the Bucks. I don't love their moveset but I also don't agree with the people who claim they don't tell a story in the ring. 

Really expected the Briscoes to interfere last night but it's awesome that they didn't. The chemistry FTR and YB have bleeds off the screen. 

I am curious if TK thought FTR would get this over as a face and if he'll lean into it even further. I'm sure it's cathartic for FTR being cheered near solely on their wrestling acumen because it wasn't too long ago they were helping maim CM Punk

[Edge]

AEW and NJPW have made an agreement. Dynamite and Rampage will be aired on NJPW World, soon. They will add a japanese commentary to the show. It seems like it will be only accessable for fans in Japan. But that's still a strong agreement for two reasons. It shows, that NJPW and AEW are still working very closley together and building up a longterm relationship. And ofc it's important for AEW to have the biggest japanese promotion by their side to get their foot into the japanese market, which was always hard to get into, if you're an international fan. Maybe add in a 3rd reason. This also means, that not only AEW and NJPW are still working closely together, but it also means, that Bushiroad, the parent company of NJPW, must have agreed to it, which makes it at least a little bit more likely for AEW to work with Stardom.

 

 

[bcb1213]

On 4/5/2022 at 2:07 PM, Dr LBC said:

Fits the look, but doesn't fit the angle (i.e. "sacrificed my nature to be a people pleaser, but eff them now") they're working with it.  If anyone that isn't Rhea, the one that would fit it the best would be to bring back a dark (not just in persona, but far less colorful) Asuka.

Shotzi

[Dr LBC]

3 hours ago, bcb1213 said:

Shotzi

Eh.  I've met Ashley several times and she's a nice girl, but she can't promo for crap and her entire gimmick is about just being over-the-top and always has been.  I'm not sure she knows how to deliver any differently.  And she's not someone Vince is going to see as a marketable commodity - I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't just know her as "the green-haired one" - so I can't see her getting seen as one they'd want to elevate with association with Edge.

[bcb1213]

4 minutes ago, Dr LBC said:

Eh.  I've met Ashley several times and she's a nice girl, but she can't promo for crap and her entire gimmick is about just being over-the-top and always has been.  I'm not sure she knows how to deliver any differently.  And she's not someone Vince is going to see as a marketable commodity - I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't just know her as "the green-haired one" - so I can't see her getting seen as one they'd want to elevate with association with Edge.

so edge talks for her and she's over the top, sounds about right.

 

also if they ditch the Nikki ASH BS, and go back to her old stuff, i can see her fitting in with the edge group too

[Dr LBC]

1 minute ago, bcb1213 said:

so edge talks for her and she's over the top, sounds about right.

 

also if they ditch the Nikki ASH BS, and go back to her old stuff, i can see her fitting in with the edge group too

Honestly, I don't think they need a female member of the group and ultimately it probably does a disservice to the female talent to include her because she'll always feel like a throw-in (kind of why outside of valets like Elizabeth, we never saw female members of the nWo).  Or, as a very recent and real example, it would be like chunking Mia Yim in with Retribution when it was made clear rather quickly that her association with the group wasn't going to elevate her... largely because if Vince is going to sign off on the elevation of a female talent he does so with them as an individual (Charlotte, Sasha, Becky, Bianca, Bayley,etc).

I mean, if we want someone who should be elevated, who deserves to be elevated, and who doesn't necessarily need someone talking for her but won't be hurt by it either, and who fits that edgier motif but also can just plain be an arse (because she's always played one anyway)... just put Shayna with them.