AEW Double or Nothing

[AlbertsNextGimmick]

2 minutes ago, AdamTH17 said:

This, multiplied by 1000. He's the most generic looking, sounding and working wrestler you could ever conjure up. I literally can't see any redeeming reason for AEW to bring him in. At least with Dillinger, he was somewhat over with the crowd and had a character of some sorts - even if that just involved him shouting out numbers, it gets the crowd involved and it's got some sort of shelf-life, regardless of how small.

Agree! They don’t need to bring in acts like Kanellis. Impact went wrong by signing everyone who left WWE, fair enough signing big names eg Moxley but jobbers need to be avoided 

[tiger_rick]

3 minutes ago, AdamTH17 said:

I literally can't see any redeeming reason for AEW to bring him in.

[AdamTH17]

THE BIGGEST REMATCH OF ALL TIME: TWICE IN A LIFETIME!

 

[I Bent My Wookie]

48 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I know this wasn’t your main point but there is no bloody way a casual wrestling fan knows who Mike Kanellis is. I’ve watched every episode of 205 Live and I barely remember who he is half the time.

Yeah that was an absolute swing and a miss. I guess it was more meant like when posters mention ex WWE, but even that's cheap as hell and not the way AEW needs to go. The thing is they are a really good looking couple so it wouldn't hurt them to have them in AEW and doing a lot of the press stuff, they're both comfortable on camera, have them on Conan on TBS promoting the company etc. 

I've been somewhat enjoying his work in 205 so maybe it's a rose tinted view that there's more for him to do. 

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I suppose the bonus with Mike Bennett is that no cunt knows who he is, thus doesnt have the stink on him. I've seen him once in WWE, and it was in some Saudi Royal Rumble where I thought they'd gone for a prayer or something, because nobody reacted. He's always had that Mr Kennedy/thinks he's a star thing about him that doesnt work, though. Heard he's a nice bloke, though. Still looks after a step kid from another relationship.

Edited May 28, 2019 by IANdrewDiceClay

[Accident Prone]

I think if you ask the AEW fanbase whether they’d prefer 40 kidney dialysis machines or a contract for Mike and Maria Kanellis, the answer would be pretty unanimous.

[Loki]

From a visual and production perspective, I was VERY surprised by how WWE it felt.

That's not even a criticism.  They have Kevin Sullivan (not that one) doing video packages for them, and generally things felt slick.  The arena setup could have been Raw or Smackdown, the ring, the refs... visually it was very much familiar to a WWE casual.  The set was nice though, I've missed actual stage sets and pyros.

The announcing was also very WWE - Excalibur sounds like The King doing play be play, so at times he and JR really sounded like JR/King.

Not finished the whole PPV but so far most of the matches could also have been on WWE tv - lots of dives to the outside, lots of pointless tag matches.  

I have to say I was expecting is to be more... different, more alternative.  For all that you all love to slag off TNA, they did try and make their product look and feel different - 6 sided ring, X Division, etc.  Lucha Underground, ROH, that weird one in the warehouse... they all went the "we are different" route.   AEW is clearly going right after WWE fans, and that's probably not a bad strategy to be honest.

[Mr Butternut Squash]

I enjoyed it. It went by fairly quickly and was structured nicely with no dead spots. Cody/Dustin is up there with Kofimania for MOTY for me and watching Dustin work circles around these kids in 2019 warms my heart. 

Excalibur was great on commentary and did a decent job of filling me in on all the guys I've never heard of.

Aside from the finish I enjoyed the Main, seemingly more than most did. I haven't seen their New Japan match so maybe my expectations were tempered. Jericho looks ridiculous but he's good enough to get away with it. Love how he always finds ways to reinvent himself. Omega went some way in winning me over as well, guy's a lunatic. Loved Jericho working over the busted nose.

Young Bucks vs Lucha Bros sounded unappealing to me on paper, not my style at all, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. Spotfest matches work for me when they're 100%, unapologetically, balls to the wall mental. The Jack Evans tag on the other hand was horseshit.

They should be snapping up those joshi girls if they really want to stand apart. There's nothing else like it and western audiences always seem to lap it up. 

The negatives have been covered so I won't hark on them. Except Jimmy Havoc. They need to send him back to the jobcentre immediately.

Looking forward the TV and how it all shapes up. MJF, Page, Pentagon, Lindaman, Yuka Sakazaki, MOXLEY, Orange Cassidy. . . I'm definitely tuning in for that lot.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Mr Butternut Squash

[BrodyGraham]

I never expected this to be anything other than a well produced wrestling show. They've been open about wanting to show different styles of wrestling but anyone expecting these first shows to feel quantum leaps away from NXT Takeover from a production standpoint has been drawing their own conclusions.

I'm of the impression that the difference will be more apparent production wise, when they land on TNT. They were saying on POST Wrestling that that's where Marvez will start to make sense. He's apparently supposed to be the guy who'll provide the stats and analytical stuff. Hopefully he won't feel quite so much of a third wheel. I personally didn't find him half as bad as some people are making on, especially considering it was his first live call. He's certainly nowhere near as bad as Otunga or the first year and change of Percy Watson's commentary career.

[wordsfromlee]

Russo has his tin foil hat on

 

[The King Of Swing]

Don't feed the troll.

[Seratonin]

I'm sure WWE are absolutely shitting themselves. This was just like a very long episode of NXT with a few household names in there to help them out in the ratings. Get some fucking originality will ya.

[TildeGuy~!]

When did Vince sign up? 

[Michael_3165]

20 minutes ago, Seratonin said:

I'm sure WWE are absolutely shitting themselves. This was just like a very long episode of NXT with a few household names in there to help them out in the ratings. Get some fucking originality will ya. 

What would that look like? 

Its easy to sit on the side-lines complaining but you can't say that what AEW produced was unoriginal in today's wrestling world. We had blood, emotion, a range of wrestling styles (Joshi, some hardcore, flying, hard hitting). The fact that they claim to want wins and losses to matter is refreshing in US wrestling today. They have used some reasonable talent, some big names (Jericho, Omega to a lesser degree, Rhodes), want it to look more gritty and sports orientated. When was the last time we saw a big time production that wasn't WWE that did that? 

[PowerButchi]

Dustin Rhodes should be AEWs babyface ace. He's the company's best worker, and has appeal to long term and recent fans. He's probably other than Moxley or Jericho their biggest name. Id build around him as a brawling man hanging on until beaten. 

 

 

I just want a promotion built around Dustin to be fair. AEW put him in the position he should  have been in  at wwe for years. I'm #DustIn