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

[twslhs20]

I guess Shane and HHH's long term booking didn't pan out.

[Troy Brown]

The next few days are going to be fun. 

Went to another Prestige show tonight in what I can only imagine the old pwg shows felt like because it was crowded and hot. Frankie Kazarian was easily the best wrestler on the show and that includes the main event of Take****a and Blackwood. Take****a will inevitably be a star though. 

Lol I can't even say his name here. Konosuke.

Edited July 23, 2022 by Troy Brown

[biggie.]

So ends the career of one very unique person. Apparently he only sleeps 2-3 hours a day (though once per week he will spend the entire day sleeping to make up the sleep debt) and absolutely hates sneezing and...scarves.

Writing was on the wall and Vince has largely phased himself out in the role over the years, but this definitely marks the end of an era.

Say what you want about Vinny Mac, but the guy was as resilient as a roach. Avoided significant prison time and survived not only the 83 week *** beating by WCW but also the Benoit fiasco. The Mr. McMahon character, imo, is the greatest heel of all time.

It's easy to poke fun at his headscratching decisions, but this is the man who put wrestling into the mainstream; even the biggest wrestling hater knows who Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, The Rock and John Cena are.

Edited July 24, 2022 by biggie.

[Livewire]

Excellent news.

[Totty]

Just now, Livewire said:

Excellent news.

To me because the E has become wash rinse repeat, is almost bigger than Vince retiring. I was listening to a podcast the other day and they said not to expect big changes immediately because they thought that creative is 3-6 months written in advance.  Like the first 20 plays of an NFL game.  But after that, expect all hell to break loose.  

[beekay414]

WWE is about to be must watch.

[Dr LBC]

6 hours ago, Totty said:

To me because the E has become wash rinse repeat, is almost bigger than Vince retiring. I was listening to a podcast the other day and they said not to expect big changes immediately because they thought that creative is 3-6 months written in advance.  Like the first 20 plays of an NFL game.  But after that, expect all hell to break loose.  

They're also roughly a month away from their toughest ratings/draw period of the calendar year.  Wouldn't be surprised if the model is to lay the foundation/skeleton to nail on the hard reboot come Rumble or Mania next year.  That's probably going to mean a fair amount of chop and change - not just in terms of the talent, but how they're used, what their gimmicks are, etc... and fully accepting that there is going to be good along with bad because they're working on the fly.

My expectations, at a bare minimum:
- They scrap Seth's cartoonish, **** Dastardly gimmick and go back to some new spin-off of the Architect gimmick.
- Some (not all, and not nearly as much as it should be, but babysteps...) talent get their surnames back.  Unless Nick Khan and the BoD are so fiercely committed as Vince was to "owning the trademarks" on these talents' working names, Hunter is still likely to hold to the old school adage that, love him or hate him Cornette (along with other old school bookers) is right on the mark on: If you can't see their name on a main event marquee and have it be taken seriously, the talent needs a new name.
- More callbacks to events/names/things that were very recognizable and successful in promotions that Vince wasn't responsible for, but he bought the rights to regardless - this includes a number of WCW PPV names, m- atch concepts, and the like.  I'll b genuinely shocked if we don't see the Lethal Lottery concept used in some notable capacity inside of 2 years.  Realistically, it could (I haven't fully thought this out, but I'm pretty sure given enough time I could sensibly work it through) be used as an annual concept to replace/update the Draft.
- Better teaser packages and intro's of talent onto the main roster (not just "Oh, look its..." or "Hi, I'm...." but actually creating excitement to see the person actually make an in-ring debut and stretching that out over the span of a near-month to create anticipation).
 

[beekay414]

That was an awesome start to the new era 

[Dr LBC]

Now, putting my own booking/writing hat on, with stuff I learned from being able to pick the brain of Kevin Sullivan when he did his extended stint with PCW Ultra (pre-pandemic), and then also factoring stuff that we've seen Hunter have a penchant for in the past, here are some avenues I'd definitely go down:

- I'd do an eventual slow-burn build to have Lashley replace Brock as the go-to badass with mega ME appeal for super-shows.  He doesn't quite have the resume, but he's about as close as they're going to get until Gable Steveson has really made something of himself (and we're talking 5 years of establishing himself here).  With a mouthpiece and not having to talk a ton, Lashley is a stellar monster heel - and I think I'd have him back the Hurt Business without MVP.  I don't think you can pair Heyman with him, but there are talkers that can be had (for God's sake get LA Knight/Eli Drake/Max Dupree a serious gimmick and let him just do his sweet thing in this role - you're literally letting him just be Truth Martini from his ROH run.  Not sure if I'd be pulling with Cedric and Shelton back in - maybe Shelton, but quite honestly, one name I'd for sure put in their ranks is Apollo Crews - and none of smiley Apollo, let him be the Uhaa Nation character (with the AC name) that got Hunter and Regal interested in him in the first place.

Now the key in all this, and it's something Hunter has low-key done in the past, it's something Sullivan has done in the past, and I forget who i was Kevin said he got the idea from, but I'm pretty sure it was Eddie Graham - you want to get a new crew over as a bunch of bad mofos, you have them put the beatdown on a monster that you're having leave the territory.  Suffice to say, without Vince around to fawn all over his size and excuse his poor development as a worker, Omos is on borrowed time.  You need to have the group leave him laying something fierce, but you can't have them high-spotting him a ton because he hasn't proven to be safe enough that he wouldn't stand to injure himself or others taking those spots.  Something like a gimmicked telescoping baton to take a leg out from under him and get him off his feet, then Pillman-ize his ankle or something.  You've written him off TV, gotten you tough guy stable over, and Omos gets to go put in time at the PC with Shawn and the group, where he's basically given the chance to either build his in-ring ability the way he should have in the first place, or he's future-endeavored/not renewed when he fails to reach necessary benchmarks in doing so.

- Actual *set* tag-teams.  We more or less have several on the main roster already, but they need to be presented/commentated better and not made to compete as singles just for the sake of variety - only if it actually works to a storyline and even then used sparingly so that seeing them as individuals is seen as an attraction/special kind of thing.  You've got Alpha Academy, the Viking Raiders (I will not call them "Vicious" and honestly I'd prefer if they just let them go back to War Raiders), the Creed/Kasper Brothers (they'll probably be up by next Mania), Briggs and Jensen, and of course the Usos (I'm intentionally leaving out New Day because a lot will be dependent on how Big E is used when he comes back).  This means, coinciding attire, actual tag-team moves, the works.  It should be clear that even if some of these individuals may be stellar talents on their own, they're that much better being in a team because of the chemistry they have with their partner (it's one of that biggest compliments Bobby Eaton said he was paid by a promoter).  The Profits look destined for a break, but they're the type of team that it wouldn't hurt to separate them, let them run as singles, and get a great run out of reuniting them down the line.  Now, if Big E stays a singles competitor and the Freebird Rule isn't something being regularly used by New Day, then I'd propose letting Chad Gable get his paws on Gable Steveson, bring him into the AA and let them utilize the Freebird Rule.  It gives you a way to introduce Steveson, allow him to let his ringwork get him over, and craft his persona around himself, while being around two big personality guys who he can play off of, learn from, and - because I'm pretty sure he's the producers for most of Chad Gable's stuffs anyway backstage - it lets Jason Jordan work with and mentor him.

- We should finally see the women's division presented more seriously outside of 1-2 feuds.  Chief among this, and what should be a long-term build towards a final confrontation would be the rubber match between Rhea Ripley and Racquel Gonzalez/Rodriguez (frankly I don't care, the name change wasn't needed for her, but it also didn't hurt her like some other name changes have other talents).  The two have undeniable chemistry; albeit, I actually like the fact that their alignments are flipped now from what they were when they feuded in Black and Gold, and Racquel can work babyface, her inexperience on the roster actually helped create an organic story whereby she needs to shed some of the niceties and bring back some of the badass fire that had her scoring a win over Rhea in NXT.  She's got the personality to do it - and she's riding with Nattie and Shayna right now - so she's got big ol' learning trees to sit under.  As much as I know @beekay414would love to see a rocket strapped to Shayna's butt and her turned into the primary heel of the women's roster, I think her age may hold her down a little.  She's still clear ME-worthy talent and should be back in that picture, but she's kind of in that rung between gate-keeper and champion because of the age and can really help the roster in that capacity.  I'd honestly have RR's next feud be with Shayna and give them worthwhile screentime to put on a story.

- Book Shinsuke seriously and you actually can have a star-quality talent they've been looking for - but they need to do it quick before he becomes complacent.  I'm talking no more comedy schtick and calm McAfee down from putting himself over using Shinsuke.  Book him for a spell with one of Hunter's boys that's a strong worker, preferably one he hasn't feuded with in the past, and just let them cook.  Shinsuke/Rollins doesn't need a title attached to it to be a drawing feud.  We have already seen Shinsuke/KO, but it's not stale, it's been quite a while, and KO isn't going to lose any heat if he drops a program to Nakamura if he's able to score a couple wins of his own along the path.

[beekay414]

Lol Theory's spent the first hour just getting raw-dogged 

[sdrawkcab321]

Ronda needs to drop the roddy piper look. Come up with your own thing. It was understandable at first but it’s been too long now. 

[Dr LBC]

13 hours ago, sdrawkcab321 said:

Ronda needs to drop the roddy piper look. Come up with your own thing. It was understandable at first but it’s been too long now. 

They've done her and Charlotte to death.  The money match for her now is against Becky, but they're on different brands and that matchup is something you don't just put on an also-ran event, so I wouldn't be surprised to see her because Haytch's version of Brock that's only brought in around certain times of year, so there's no need to reboot her gimmick until that point.  Because the King of the Old Horndogs is gone, bringing Ronda back in his gi would be a solid move - because genuinely what's the point of trying to sell sex with Ronda Rousey? - because she's going to no-sell the acting bit of that gimmicky stuff anyway... because she's Ronda Rousey.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Dr LBC

[beekay414]

Good lord, the JAS "appreciate us" is such a ripoff of "acknowledge me" and they call their fans the AEW Galaxy? LMAO c'mon man.

[Deadpulse]

15 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Good lord, the JAS "appreciate us" is such a ripoff of "acknowledge me" and they call their fans the AEW Galaxy? LMAO c'mon man.

Love how you come in here and complain about getting worked lol

[beekay414]

6 minutes ago, Deadpulse said:

Love how you come in here and complain about getting worked lol

I know what they're doing. It's still lazy as **** and second rate lol. Let's "work" people by mocking the best thing going in wrestling right now lmao.

Edited July 28, 2022 by beekay414