Hannibal Scorch

As I said in another thread, same thing happened with Hangman, the thrill was in the chase. I agree it’s too soon to write him off though, it’s only been a week and change since he won

It was the Ogogo bit that really did it for me. That and the more Brandi got involved the less I cared. Both of them seem lovely in real life, but she was prototype Jericho.

Not sure where else it fits, but I thought this thread was interesting. It was in response to a very pro WWE twitter account saying Cody’s promos since winning have been dull and someone asking if this was how his downfall started in AEW. I think it’s still far to early to say Cody’s a bust but still

Sami does generally get a good reaction, but saw a clip of R Truth/Miz and HHH and that crowd was silent (I mean, the comedy didn’t seem to land particularly well, maybe the just weren’t into THAT bit). But his reaction was awesome last night which is always good because he’s another one I think deserves it. And the general presentation is so much better out of Kevin Dunn’s hands

Maybe the Jericho Vortex is what Hook pushes him into tomorrow night and we never see him again. A la Poochie

Where did I say it wasn’t class? It was a comment about the crowd.

Not shitting on the presentation at all, because the whole bit was superbly shot. But he was in his home town of Montreal.

Billy Gunn and Sting send their regards

Got to say they could have put a massive poo emoji on the silver belts and it would have looked better. I loved the square attitude era titles, and wish these weren’t round, but these new ones are a massive glow up.

I’m so glad we got Tony back into wrestling

There’s a whole roster to choose from but you can’t name, or tell who is who from these 5? Without googling Darius and Dante Martin, Marq Quen and Isiah Cassidy. Yeesh. Anyway, at @RedRoosteryeah I did misread your comment earlier. My picks for the elbow. Jericho - let him have his hall of fame run Jeff Hardy - same Hook - there’s something there, but it ain’t there yet Danhausen - His obsession with Pepsi Phil has shown him up to be a bit of a tit. A hard act to book on a serious wrestling show. He doesn’t have the range of an Orange Cassidy, and I’m sure he’ll make lots of monies in a comedy role. Pains me as a fan to say, but I wouldn’t miss him. House of Black Malakai and Buddy - HHH loves them and their partners are there. Have fun boys Ricky Starks - Another who wants to go, so let him go. Max Caster - Off to NXT for you sonny Preston Vance - I like him, but he can’t catch a break.

Not be shit

I never suggested they were. This is weird thing to say because I never suggested that. Of course they are doing phenomenal business, but that has nothing to do with my point. And you have, rightly picked 4 people they really have been trying to build (Priest over Riccochet though, he’s been jobbed out too often too long to make his recent win record mean much. - Sami - Owens - Ricochet - Chelsea Green - Piper - Balor - Trick Williams - Chad Gabel - Bayley - R-Truth I think that opinion is largely led by vague jibes people throw at AEW presentation in general. That said Trips made a big deal about how Jade was mistreated in AEW training wise and now she’s in the best place. 6 months down in the PC and she’s exactly the same. But I appreciate if your ambition is to get my attention from outside opportunities (like acting) you’d be a fool not to go to the biggest circus in town, which is the WWE. CM Punk sold tons of merch the first time round, but the ratings were down when he was at the top of the tower. Of course they want merch sellers, but my point is being over with the crowd is different than people paying to see you. People are paying for Cody and Roman, not LA Knight. It’s the Fandango effect. And in my original point the problem seems to be they either don’t pull the trigger at the time (and yeah, it was great Sami got his flowers, but it felt bittersweet because of the delay imo) or they just don’t build them up properly. It’s a testing time. Roman was the figure head for almost 4 years. He’s gone. Cody is now leading the way and his promos have been disappointing, albeit not surprising. He’s got the Hangman issue of being more dynamic chasing the title than winning, something I saw when Cody had his TNT runs. But I want him to do well, nicest man in the business, but if he got injured tomorrow they would be buggered.

Yes. And I think it would have involved Ted Turner. What any organization needed was a TV deal and who better than someone who owned multiple networks screaming for content to have a promotion. Wrestling needed Cable TV as much as Cable TV needed Wrestling. Cheap filler content which people watched regularly. Vince Jr was a smart business man, but it was an absolute lightning in a bottle situation for all the success he had early on. Didn't the MTV thing happen because of Cyndi Lauper meeting Captain Lou on a plane and hitting it off, leading to his appearances in her music videos and than later to her being brought into WWF? Regardless, Vince and his millions wouldn't have worked out without getting Hulk Hogan signed.

WWE's problem is not roster size. Once again it's because they aren't building stars. Cody was ready to go from his debut and is pretty much the same as he was in AEW in terms of presentation. Same thing with Jade even down to her music being a knock off of her AEW music. But simply put they are not making new stars. Jay Uso was an attempt, he is over with the crowd, but he isn't top tier talent. Same with LA Knight. Then you have people like Sami, Kevin Owens, Chad Gable who are bubbling under but when they were good to go, they pivoted. I honestly think we are just a few mere bad booking decisions away before the wheels start to fall off again, not that I think it will revert back to the 2019 era of garbage, but I do think it could lose momentum again. What is the point of NXT if they don't use it to build new stars and push them properly when they are called up?

Must have been an Action Replay. Game Genie never got past the 16 bit era.

Isn’t that the match Danielson got injured in?

Couldn’t agree more. The trailer made it out to be a pretty out and out war film. So I was pleased at how different it was and quite unique for a war film. Reminded me of Sicario a bit at times with the tension and just looking beautiful despite the backdrop. Alex Garland said this will be his last directorial effort, shame as it’s probably his best.

Great, now I want RJ City and Joan Collins hosting the pre show

Maybe it’s rose tinted glasses based on her other promos

She’s in Toni Storms corner

Already in my top 5 Hey’s of all time

Never has someone’s stock fallen so low from such a high position as Caster. great on the mic, good looking, decent ring work, all gone pretty much. Off ye pop to NXT please. Phenomenal looking card. All killer no filler so far (yep, even Roddy v Kyle I’m looking forward to). When you look at Mania night 1 and 2 you’re scrambling to make a whole decent event with some of those matches, and this will be another PPV missed by the masses of wrestling fans because it’s the other fed. Insane. It could be an all timer, especially as you pointed out that gimmick matches like ladders are few and far between. I’m very much looking forward to it. Will swerve win? I almost feel Page interfering is the way they will go and have Swerve finally win at double or nothing, which doesn’t give him a long run before the inevitable Ospreay/Swerve at All In. But I would love to see him win here, as much as Joe’s run has over delivered, it’s time for Swerve.

@Chili I think you nailed some crucial points (although WWE and AEW have the same amount of weekly TV and same amount of titles, it just feels worse on AEW). But the roster is bloated. Normally a great problem to have, but the spending spree he went on in 2020 due to WWE’s roster cuts ment that even with ROH as a satellite brand, too many people. Although at times that’s helped. When you’ve lost people like Kenny to long term injury you had people you could replace him with a the top end. And with people like Adam Cole, MJF, Miro, Kenny and Darby all out injured and they still have top talent, it shows how vast it is. I mean can you imagine if Seth, Cody, Roman, Drew and Priest were all out at the same time. Who’d be stepping up for the ’E? But he can definitely trim the fat and I think you either need to make ROH its own thing with no crossovers (unless they are being called up permanently to AEW), or just start not renewing contracts. Especially with people who don’t appear to want to be there anymore. They could lose a good 20/30 people across the company and still have a great roster (and even free space for people to step up).

The perfect antidote after putting on a critically panned show is a banger. And in that regard, this was a pretty great episode. Love me some Daddy Magic so enjoyed him sitting in for Nigel this week. Thought House of Black v Top Flight Ish was a good opener, ran a bit long but still a good match to open. Shibata vs Moriarty was almost too short. Just as it started really going it was done. Does Anthony Ogogo have the weirdest British accent? Where’s it from? Garcia vs Angelico was as fun as you’d expect. There’s something I like about Angelico, he’s never gonna be a top guy, but I enjoy him more than most lower card people. Not familiar with AZM, but thought she was great and gave Toni Storm her best match in months. A delightful surprise. I like Thunder Rosa, but I find her a bit bland usually. Until tonight, great babyface promo and got me excited for the match next week. Job done. FTR vs Young Bucks in a ladder match?!? Tony Khan you son of a bitch. BCC Vs Hobbs and Fletcher was a great main event, hard hitting, exciting, pushed the story with Danielson and Ospreay. Yeah, this was great. Collision does a really good job of taking an average card and over delivering. It’s come a long way since those early months when it was Punks mates and it was all quite samey.