Kamaras-Tash Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Are the Impact lads signed to contracts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members garynysmon Posted January 9, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 9, 2019 12 minutes ago, Kamaras-Tash said: Are the Impact lads signed to contracts? Yes but they’re pretty lax. Half the roster seems to work for MLW and a few were also at All In. Can’t see Don Callis having an issue with letting any of their wrestlers work for AEW (in fact they’d probably welcome the exposure). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted January 9, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 9, 2019 Are some talent still under contract to Lucha Underground? Does that even still exist?? Jeff Cobb is probably a no-go if so, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamaras-Tash Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 2 minutes ago, PunkStep said: Are some talent still under contract to Lucha Underground? Does that even still exist?? Jeff Cobb is probably a no-go if so, right? Hes signed with ROH now Im sure, its all so complicated atm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cannibal Man Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 If that story about them doing TV with Turner is true then hats off to them, that has to be the funniest, snidest thing anyone's done to Vince in years. I don't know fuck all about TV these days so he could have the reach of the channel with Topless Darts ans Rusty Goff doing the weather for all I know, but fuck me. Imagine Vince's syrup hitting the roof when he hears that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 10 hours ago, PunkStep said: Pressed play on that live stream, saw HEY HEY IT'S CONRAD, thought nah you're alright. Yeah, I hate that guy. He really put me off the podcast with Prichard and then recently came across some stuff with Bischof and gave it a listen. Heard Conrad was hosting it and was like 'Eurgh, okay, I'll give it a chance'. Eric says something and Conrad yells, like genuinely shouts and rants for ages to the point where even Eric was like 'Why are you shouting!? Relax. Geez!' I don't know the guy but he just seem like the worst kind of 'Hey I'm a big star!' kind of person when in actuality he really isn't and most of us are like 'Who is this fat fuck!?', Anyway, AEW - yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 9, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 9, 2019 The press conference looked far too much like amateurs playing at being the big leagues - production quality and presentation-wise, it's not something that's exactly filling me with excitement. A few of the announcements did pique my interest, and get me more hyped than I was before - mostly PAC showing up with his Dragon Gate title, and the announcement that they're working with CIMA's Chinese lads. In terms of international relationships, if they're not working with NJPW, that's probably the best move they could have made. Jericho showing up is interesting, but hardly a surprise considering his name's been attached to this since day one. It could well be a test of if Jericho is as big a star as he thinks he is (no one is as big a star as Chris Jericho thinks he is), now that the novelty of "Chris Jericho outside of WWE" has largely worn off. The more exciting announcements long term were medical benefits, equal pay, and full contracts. But I still have a lot of doubts around all of it. There have been weasel words suggesting that it's only the "top stars" getting benefits, and how are people going to be signed to exclusive contracts while not working until May, with only maybe one show in-between now and then? Equal pay, as well, is a dubious one - sounds great, but the phrasing was "equal rate of pay", so male and female wrestlers in equivalent roles would be paid equally. Who defines that? This isn't a game of EWR (as much as it feels like one) where you can say "oh, these two are both upper midcard" when determining their rate of pay. Also, while equal pay for the female wrestlers is laudable, there have only been three announced - Brandi Rhodes, Penelope Ford and Britt Baker. Two of those are predominantly valets for men on the roster, and all three of them have the "male wrestler's partner" baggage hanging over them, with two in particular being partners of men working for AEW, which makes it feel like they're getting booked as a favour. I'm going to want to see more commitment to a decent women's division before I get too excited about the equal pay talk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Factotum Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Yeah Conrad needs to get lost. Jericho was an obvious, yet still good signing by them. Certainly it'll peak the interest of casual fans. Jericho has a way to keep himself relevant doesn't he? Huge props to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yakashi Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 9 hours ago, AdamTH17 said: Mid card comedy act? Which was the last Jericho match you watched? Jericho was the co-main event at Wrestle Kingdom, an event that lots of the fans in attendance would've watched, and delivered a really good match. Plus, after previously saying he'd never work for another American company, it was the right choice to end on the shock factor of him signing for AEW. Good foundations put into place I thought. Don't think they've made a single bad signing as of yet. Obviously the statements regarding healthcare and equal pay were smart, I can't see that not being tempting for a lot of the WWE lads sitting around twiddling their thumbs. The last jericho match I saw was him losing to Naito last week. The last time the vast majority of wrestling fans (They ones they need to stop this being just another indy) saw him was as a 50 year old mid card comedy act in wwe. Only now hes also fat and has an even bigger ego. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snugglecakes Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 (edited) 30 minutes ago, BomberPat said: The press conference looked far too much like amateurs playing at being the big leagues - production quality and presentation-wise, it's not something that's exactly filling me with excitement. A few of the announcements did pique my interest, and get me more hyped than I was before - mostly PAC showing up with his Dragon Gate title, and the announcement that they're working with CIMA's Chinese lads. In terms of international relationships, if they're not working with NJPW, that's probably the best move they could have made. Jericho showing up is interesting, but hardly a surprise considering his name's been attached to this since day one. It could well be a test of if Jericho is as big a star as he thinks he is (no one is as big a star as Chris Jericho thinks he is), now that the novelty of "Chris Jericho outside of WWE" has largely worn off. The more exciting announcements long term were medical benefits, equal pay, and full contracts. But I still have a lot of doubts around all of it. There have been weasel words suggesting that it's only the "top stars" getting benefits, and how are people going to be signed to exclusive contracts while not working until May, with only maybe one show in-between now and then? Equal pay, as well, is a dubious one - sounds great, but the phrasing was "equal rate of pay", so male and female wrestlers in equivalent roles would be paid equally. Who defines that? This isn't a game of EWR (as much as it feels like one) where you can say "oh, these two are both upper midcard" when determining their rate of pay. Also, while equal pay for the female wrestlers is laudable, there have only been three announced - Brandi Rhodes, Penelope Ford and Britt Baker. Two of those are predominantly valets for men on the roster, and all three of them have the "male wrestler's partner" baggage hanging over them, with two in particular being partners of men working for AEW, which makes it feel like they're getting booked as a favour. I'm going to want to see more commitment to a decent women's division before I get too excited about the equal pay talk. Yeah, they seem to be incredibly vague about the healthcare stuff. https://411mania.com/wrestling/cody-and-young-bucks-say-never-say-never-to-aew-providing-benefits-to-talent/ That interview suggests it's just the executives (ie. Cody and his mates) who are receiving healthcare etc. Edited January 9, 2019 by Snugglecakes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 9, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 9, 2019 Had to read up on this because I couldn't work it out from the gibberish on here! 😆 Names are all the ones I expected so far although admittedly only expected Neville since yesterday. Had to google Britt Baker, Maxwell J Friedman, Penelope Ford and Adam Page. Never heard of the first three, was being gormless about Page. This clearly is going to be another NXT or a better TNA at best. Not a bad thing for the industry but can't honestly say it's what I'm crying out for. Who knows though. Will certianly give it a go if we ever work out what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Factotum Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Quote The last time the vast majority of wrestling fans (They ones they need to stop this being just another indy) saw him was as a 50 year old mid card comedy act in wwe. Only now hes also fat and has an even bigger ego. Jericho was one of the most over guys in the company with 'The List'. He was also involved in a high profile feud with Owens. Not sure what you're referring to at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 Got round to watching the full thing on YouTube this morning. Conrad Thompson can fuck right off. “Is this the biggest thing in Wrestling history or what?”, erm...no, not by a long way you pillock. Also the first couple of minutes are dominated by this shot of somebody who decided to bring a flag PAC showing up in his gear was the highlight of the whole thing, closely followed by Jericho sporting his Sinister Minister hairline, maybe he should have worn his Cohen hat after all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yakashi Posted January 9, 2019 Share Posted January 9, 2019 1 minute ago, Factotum said: Jericho was one of the most over guys in the company with 'The List'. He was also involved in a high profile feud with Owens. Not sure what you're referring to at all. The list was literally a mid card comedy act. Literally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 9, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 9, 2019 It was funny, but that's not the same thing as being a comedy act. Jericho wasn't booked as a joke. It's like saying The Rock was a comedy act. That's not to say there's not merit in what you're saying - is Jericho the big star that AEW needs him to be? Probably not. Is he a big enough name to draw in the mythical "lapsed fan" market and bring back countless Attitude Era viewers and casual fans? Not on his own, but he's certainly going to help as part of a larger roster. And, crucially, he'll have more clout than the Young Bucks or Cody Rhodes in reaching out to broadcasters and sponsors. Hopefully what we see between now and the first show is more announcements of working relationships and collaboration with other companies. The roster thus far is underwhelming, and you have to hope those aren't the "big guns" and they have something else up their sleeve. But the state of wrestling in 2019 is torn between more companies trying to tie wrestlers down to exclusive contracts, and between more companies being open to working together. With WWE, ROH, NJPW and, to a lesser extent, Impact all in the position to offer big money contracts, AEW need to tap into areas/promotions with a lot of buzz and work together with those companies before their stars get snapped up elsewhere. I think they're on to a winner working with Dragon Gate and OWE - Dragon Gate feel like a very self-contained universe, with their own style, wrestlers not working that much elsewhere, and hasn't crossed over into Western consciousness the way NJPW has, but with PAC returning recently, it's really the best time to introduce them to a global audience. And some of the OWE lads have so much potential, and so little presence on the global scene, that they'll be seen as "AEW guys" by and large, and I honestly think they have the potential for the next evolution in wrestling styles right there - Zhao Yilong will be huge if they showcase him correctly. If they can work out working relationships with promotions in the US, Europe and Mexico, picking up those who aren't already in bed with WWE or NJPW, that has to be the best approach for them. But, again, does it give them stars of a level to attract anyone but the existing wrestling fanbase? Probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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