Vamp

On 7/21/2023 at 9:42 AM, CTXRussomark said:

Yeah what is being classed as a PPV in that data?  I've barely even heard of some of those names so it must be a pretty loose classification.  I've never heard of Caleb Konley and his Wikipedia tells me the only things of note he's done are fairly recent runs in Impact and Corgan's NWA, so I'm struggling to understand how he has the same number of PPV matches as The Undertaker. 

Caleb Konley seems to have worked quite a few different promotions who were on WWN, including CZW, Evolve, DGUSA and FIP. 

On 7/21/2023 at 8:52 AM, LaGoosh said:

The main villain Gabriel - the actor they chose is a complete charisma vacuum, so boring to watch and as generic as you could possibly imagine.

I feel like that's deliberate as he's kind of not the main villain. Like he's a pawn basically. 

I found of the CGI in the final action scene a bit subpar. I appreciated that some of it seemed to be model work though. 

It'd flop because our world can't have nice things but in any other world a continuation with Atwell as the lead would be pretty gun. 

Everybody talks in cockney rhyming slang. 

If you see a chimney sweep make sure you tip your hat. 

Also, something I hadn't thought about till now, how does buggering off not count as surrendering? 

I don't think it did Ibushi any favours that the match went on so long after he entered. But it didn't seem like he was remotely interested in the story anyway. The bit where Ibushi slowly strolled over while Moxley was torturing Omega on the bed of nails was bizarre. 

Having Nick Jackson and Wheeler Yuta brawl around ringside, climb up the cage and then the blow off being Jackson pouring thumbtacks into the ring was also weird. What's the point? 

I don't like modern War Games matches anyway because I feel like the style of wrestling that suits that match is a casualty of the more modern hybrid style that wrestlers and fans are used to. This match was a fun emotionless CZW style car crash. It'll live on on gifs if not in our hearts.

The MJF thing has improved from that awful WWE style promo they did weeks ago, purely because MJF is in Butlins mode. Long term, the team has been so entertaining that I now really can't be arsed with the inevitable split because then they're going to do more shitty dueling promos as opposed to the comedy work which Cole is clearly better equipped for (even if it is MJF who's carrying it). But at the moment, it's a lot of fun. 

I'm not convinced by heel Jack Perry outside of the ring, but he did well in his match with Hook. Not quite sure why Perry was so fine with taking a count out win at one stage, maybe he forgot the title was on the line, but otherwise a decent little match.

Britt got quite a pop considering her squash felt like a "oh shit, we haven't got any women on the card, chuck someone out there for 3 minutes as a token gesture!"

Also, did I imagine it or did they hype up Rampage by saying they'd reveal matches for Collision on it? 

All that said, I enjoyed it. 

I know the tag match was technically good but I couldn't get into it. Not sure why. 

Can't believe they rushed Willow out after her match rather than just cutting the meaningless Goth squash. Willow is great. 

I'll admit I was wrong about Punk not doing the job, although I'm not sure the rope holding was needed. Not sure which of them was forgetting spots or if they decided to call it in the ring, but Punk seemed to spend half the match having conversations and it wasn't exactly well hidden. I do wonder if Punk was expecting a more positive reaction, what with his Bret Hart tights, and was trying to call things in the ring to respond to the crowd reaction. 

There was an odd amount of Bret Hart tributes being thrown around for a show about celebrating Owen Hart. 

I think the writing was on the wall after they didn't follow up on the Thunder Rosa/Britt Baker lights out match. There was a real buzz around that point. 

AEW couldn't give two shits about their women's division. There's no reason they couldn't be a draw for the company but they've decided not to push them. 

2 hours ago, David said:

I think this CM Punk match tonight will give us an idea of where they're taking him as a character. I'd be surprised if he actually wins this thing, but how he reacts when he loses will tell us a lot.

Really? I can't really imagine Punk doing the job on free TV to Starks. 

Last weeks awful "chant for Owen" promo has confused the whole thing for me. It came across as really desperate, which doesn't really seem to suit the character. Punk winning it and playing a bullshitter who says the right things "I want to wrestle the younger guys," "I'm being myself," "I did it for Owen," but doesn't mean them has a lot of potential, and makes sense with his "tell me when I'm telling lies" stuff but I think they're more likely going for the more boring Bret Hart rip off. 

Oddly I've been playing a different bus simulator with 2 made up cities. 

It's rubbish but fun. 

I think they're more likely to do Omega/Ospreay at All In and Omega/Takeshita at All Out. Ospreay wins, Omega is beaten and injured going into his match with Takeshita. Then they can say Omega/Ospreay have faced each other on 3 different continents. 

Meh, introduce a UK championship and have a tournament for it. 

Temple of Doom is definitely a prequel. He's out for fortune and glory in that one, by the time he gets to Raiders he's shown doing really boring lecturers and thinking relics should be in museums. 

I quite enjoyed Cruella but it only really works if you consider it a standalone film rather than a prequel so that's possibly not the best example...

Does Casino Royale kinda count? I know its a reboot, and chronologically it'd make no sense, but it's so much about how Bond became Bond and its in a series where the main actor changes but is supposedly the same character anyway, that it feels like you could equally consider it a prequel. I mean, I think it's aged terribly and drags but a lot of people really rate it.

I'd quite like it to be Callis go be honest. I think Kenny chasing him around the cage, Takeshita taking advantage of the distraction, Kenny getting absolutely battered and Callis getting some cheap shots in on a bloodied and beaten Omega, would be a lot of fun. 

It's too late now but a "pick your poison" stip might have been interesting, The Elite pick Don Callis as the 5th man for BCC, BCC pick Evil Uno or someone else from the Dark Order. 

A small, very cynical part of me thinks they're at least toying with shoe horning Jericho and Sting into it. It's probably the easiest (and laziest) option, and they could probably use it to build to a singles match, but it'd feel very awkward and clunky. Possibly not as much as Punk, which I think would be the least satisfying option really.

25 minutes ago, westlondonmist said:

Maybe have an undercard with some UK indy talent vs AEW wrestlers. 

Fuck that. Like, there's some UK talent I'm seeing on that weekend, at shows that I'm actually way more excited for than AEW, but some people have paid over £100 to see an AEW stadium show. 

Let's not condemn them yet. I mean sure, if they don't pay out for Emi Sakura to come out to "We will rock you" we can shit on them for missing a massive opportunity but they haven't failed to do that yet. 

I thought maybe Punk's promo was deliberately shit, like he was cutting a deliberately disingenuous promo. But then asking the fans to chant "Owen" in a deliberately disingenuous heel promo feels a little off. 

I'm not sure wrestling fans are anymore ratings obsessed than Doctor Who fans. 

I'd be well up for a Sting title win. Can't see it happening though. 

Perfectly happy if they want to leave the Punk main event for All Out. 

You guys do realise its all fake right? 

They'll just work the damage to the pitch into the storylines. 

"How will the superstars of the FA cup perform on such a pitch?" Get a manager to cut a promo afterwards about how outraged he is that pitch cost his team the match. 

How are Sting's knees not knackered? 

I'm hoping Punk has a Cena inspired spinner AEW title in the bag. 

Theres something about Collision that feels a little Hogan TNA to me. Between Punk (who I know most people don't consider a WWE guy), FTR and Andrade battling Black and Murphy and Miro having no sense of direction, it just feels a little like the place where WWE rejects go. I know that's entirely unfair. 

However, completely contradicting what I just said, I feel like they'd have a fun hour show. Andrade match, Miro squash, Punk promo, I guess a Punk match if you really have to (I've never really connected with Punk in the ring)  rinse and repeat. 

4 hours ago, Your Fight Site said:

I think the crux of the problem is: you can’t please everyone all of the time.

A number of people have been clamouring for a modern-day version of No Mercy for over two decades, then they’re given it and they still complain.

To be fair, the people who thought they were getting a modern version of No Mercy probably have more right to complain than anyone. 

The crux of the problem isn't that you can't please everyone, it's that they released an unfinished game. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that disagrees with that. 

42 minutes ago, Uncle Zeb said:

An homage to No Mercy probably seemed a smarter idea when it was first pitched and AEW was almost a super indy courting hardcore Internet fans. Now it's a viable mainstream promotion with a broader audience, whose expectations aren't necessarily informed by N64 nostalgia. That's a marketing challenge that they're obviously not winning if even people on here weren't prepared for what they got.

I think that's over complicating it. I'm enjoying the gameplay but it's unfinished. They know that because they've tried to compare the game to No Man's Sky the day after it released. Which is fine but NMS got deservedly shit on for ages and only turned it around after proving themselves. 

I think comparing it to No Mercy was probably a mistake too to be honest. Even that was more finished.

3 hours ago, Vegeta said:

Anywhere posting any caw recipes as of yet?

The AEW Fight Forever reddit has some but you really don't need any. You're picking from a tiny number of options. 

Unless you're trying to get a specific camouflage attire in which case there's dozens of items.