Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 15, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2019 Imagine the disappointment if AEW turns out to be a well run but boring company that just pumps out product (like ROH) and not a clusterfuck like WCW or TNA. No-one wants that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 Going back to the Hebner thing, is AEW aimed at the uber fan and the lapsed fan? I'm the latter, I've no idea who half the people they announce are but I sure know who Hebner is. If I tune in to a new show and see familiar faces as well as emerging ones I've never seen before, I'm going to be more likely to watch again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_3165 Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 I hate the idea of washed up guys like Jr and Hebner being involved on screen. Hideous idea. Let new guys take stage. Most of these types aren't in WWE for a reason be irrelevance or poor showings in recent years. JR is a classic example. Use the original commentary crew for sure. They were gold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MungoChutney Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 17 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said: Going back to the Hebner thing, is AEW aimed at the uber fan and the lapsed fan? I'm the latter, I've no idea who half the people they announce are but I sure know who Hebner is. If I tune in to a new show and see familiar faces as well as emerging ones I've never seen before, I'm going to be more likely to watch again. This is it for me. While I'd also tune in got the chaotic clusterfuck that Rick described, I'm planning to catch this mainly off the back of them booking Cody vs Dustin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted May 15, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2019 If Earl's there in a largely ceremonial role, great. If he's actually refereeing regularly - dude's 70 years old. I can't picture him working well alongside the kind of super-indie fast-paced matches you'll get from the likes of the Lucha Bros, Kenny Omega or the Young Bucks. Particularly when they already have one of, if not the best, referee in the world in Bryce Remsburg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 Thing is, what's the chances they bring in Hebner just to be a rank & file official? Why go to the trouble? Either he's going to be mainly a backstage hand (which would be fine), or we're going to see him involved in angles, aren't we? The evil ref gimmick, some shit like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Cod Eye Posted May 15, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2019 I must be honest, I'm really looking forward to this. I'm hoping this statistical analysis thing will push their matches to be less "spot-festy" and instead go back to when wresters would make sure that every move was done for a kayfabe reason, and not because it just looks good... I'm in a house with three kids who are all in the midst of their WWE mega-fandom, so between the Network and DoN PPV costs etc, I can see me spending more on wrestlng than I have done in years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted May 15, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2019 (edited) A part of me thought maybe they could do the whole referee pundit thing that BT Sport does with the football, i.e. whether or not a decision was a foul, etc., but then realised he'd be constantly highlighting some of the worst things about wrestling logic. Edited May 15, 2019 by Carbomb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Power Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 Ah fuck, they've got me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGIT Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 47 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said: Going back to the Hebner thing, is AEW aimed at the uber fan and the lapsed fan? I'm the latter, I've no idea who half the people they announce are but I sure know who Hebner is. If I tune in to a new show and see familiar faces as well as emerging ones I've never seen before, I'm going to be more likely to watch again. I'm the same. Seeing Glaciers name mentioned for the battle royal got my interest. It's a fine line. People like myself and presumably you would get more interested seeing Sean Mooney pop up for an interview than seeing certain 5*matches. I too hope they can find a balance of good cameos and emerging talent that brings in all types of fan. Overall with AEW, I'm looking forward to watching it play out. At this stage I don't care if its soapy, serious, comedy, sporty or whatever. I just want something a bit fresher and more engaging than what I've seen from WWE the past while. This year was my first year not even bothering watching Mania. After forcing myself to watch the last few Manias and supershows I gave up this year, mainly due to the runtime. It's just cumbersome. Anything, even if AEW does have it's flaws, is welcomed by me now, just to get me back interested in wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 41 minutes ago, BomberPat said: If Earl's there in a largely ceremonial role, great. If he's actually refereeing regularly - dude's 70 years old. I can't picture him working well alongside the kind of super-indie fast-paced matches you'll get from the likes of the Lucha Bros, Kenny Omega or the Young Bucks. Particularly when they already have one of, if not the best, referee in the world in Bryce Remsburg. They won’t be doing the kind of matches they do on the indies, they’re going for a more realistic, sports feel with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 15, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2019 48 minutes ago, Max Power said: Ah fuck, they've got me. That's the most money Hebner's drawn without selling T-Shirts in the car park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted May 15, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 15, 2019 (edited) As exciting as this news is for someone like me who has fallen out of love with WWE in the past couple of years, I'm still unsure what to make of it all. We saw with Cody v Magnus what can be achieved with them respecting the sporting aspect of the story. It's something 80s WWF did well too - the bombast and cartoon within the rules of a sporting contest. I do hope they try a bunch of stuff to see what works. Like Rick typed, be proper rubbish if this is just a really safe, saw it, wrestling show, like ROY. Edited May 15, 2019 by ColinBollocks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted May 15, 2019 Share Posted May 15, 2019 I hope "less soapy" means more in terms of presentation. NXT is the best example of this - if it's not something happening in the ring, it's a tape of something that happened earlier in the day, or an official interview, or something off social media. The really soapy aspect of normal WWE is all the backstage stuff, so just getting rid of all that would be a huge improvement. Makes you realise how dated the WWE presentation style is - they've basically been doing the same thing for 20 years now. TNA tried something different for a bit during the Bischoff era but it's time for a really fresh approach. Having the matches on the show announced in advance, like a proper sports program - that doesn't stop you having storylines etc but it give a bit more internal structure to the whole thing. UFC/Bellator have lots of nice stuff you could rip off without going full Match of the Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Accident Prone Posted May 16, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted May 16, 2019 (edited) This morning's Observer has revealed that Turner is fronting all of the production costs, which is a double edged sword for AEW. Whilst it's one less thing (albeit a massive thing) for AEW to worry about, it also means that Turner controls the final product. WWE and UFC both fully fund their own production, hence them having almost total control over what is shown on TV and PPV. AEW are also getting a slice of the ad revenue (along with a downside on that), so this means the product has to be advertiser friendly (sorry MPDTT), which most likely means Turner having the last say on the production end so it appeals to major advertisers. This venture just got a bit more interesting. Edited May 16, 2019 by Accident Prone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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