AEW Fyter Fest

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Maybe JR isnt as good as he was, but he's good once as he ever was. The more you hear him, the less motivated he is. I think he's going to get real annoying hearing him weekly.

[tiger_rick]

On the payroll.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Tony Kahn said in the post show interview there will be no intergender wrestling and no adult orientated storylines on TNT. He dressed no man on woman violence, no middle fingers, no swearing, no chairs, no drawing pins will be on the show. PG baby! Standards and Practices here we come!

[BrodyGraham]

14 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

 

Funny, a month ago he delivered his best call in years.

He's got his favourites and he'll put in a call for them. Everything else he's treating largely with disdain. He admitted on air to not knowing Darby Allin! Excalibur is holding that desk together right now.

[tiger_rick]

15 minutes ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Maybe JR isnt as good as he was, but he's good once as he ever was. The more you hear him, the less motivated he is. I think he's going to get real annoying hearing him weekly.

He's nowhere near as good as he was. He wasn't ten years ago. No enthusiasm or motivation is quite the accusation of a guy doing what he loves. Less credible than a Young Bucks press conference. 

[Guest]

This company is really confusing. They can certainly compete with WWE in the sense they can greatly entertain me for 15 minutes, then immediately drop a gigantic turd over what I just watched.

I was cooking during the first match on the pre-show but it looked very entertaining. Even knowing a lot of guys like MJF, Darby, Jungle Boy, Janela etc. long before AEW, these Private Party guys were completely new to me - a great find. They seem very exciting and Quen in particular looks a star. interested to see where they go, the first thing in their tag division to capture my imagination.

Point proved post-match as we get this awful faux-Wyatt family bollocks. They even surrounded the ring after the lights out in the exact same way the Wyatts would. Chuck & Trent stand in the ring like goons while a meaningless spooky promo airs on the titantron. This is not "the alternative", this is WWE Raw at it's most tired & formuliac. Their debut at DoN was awful too - crowd thinking about Jon Moxley & CM Punk and they did a lights out angle for guys people barely knew? TAFKA "Super Smash Bros" seem like decent workers from the indie stuff I've seen, but this needs a complete re-think.

Not the worst idea they've got going though - the two fucking librarians. It's barely worth dwelling on. I have read a wide variety of takes on AEW so far; from Elite superfans who want Vince to know he's not even their real dad, to WWE lifers permanently skeptical of anything outside the WWE, and everyone in between - I've seen nobody who can defend this. Bates is a bad wrestler, and Allie's not special enough to make this match anything but a complete waste of time. This should've been a Awesome Kong squash or GTFO.

Then for whatever reason, I watched a guy from DDT have an acceptable comedy match with uhh... just some fucking geek, I guess. I enjoy DDT style silliness and this had it's place I guess, it was fine.

CIMA v Daniels was a fine main show opener. Nice athletic match, just not all that memorable.

Women's 3 way I thought was better than the other women's stuff they've done so far, mainly because we learned far more about all three here than we did at DoN. Nyla is great. But she needs wins, a Awesome Kong v Nyla one on one showdown is what this division needs to be building towards.

Nothing memorable about the 4 way apart from a couple of nuts spots from Jungle Boy, and MJF's cracking pre-match promo. An issue I've had with MJF at times is that while his delivery is always 100% on point, the content of the promos is often your usual uninspired stuff. That wasn't an issue here, it was a blast. He just laid into the nerd crowd and his opponents with style and humour. MJF and his presentation may be the most fully-realized thing in the company to date.

Cody v Darby was interesting. funny to see the reaction here just calling his big spot stupid. you're......not wrong, but also I couldn't give a rat's arse of a shit. Darby is one of the most exhilarating talents you can find anywhere, because, in case this passed you by - this guy can BUMP. It just is what it is. Enjoy it or don't. Now, this was loads slower and frankly less entertaining than most Darby matches I've seen, but I figured that he'd wrestle Cody's match rather than vice-versa (that would be something to see), and as a star-making performance it was very good. Got better as it went on, exciting finish and the draw does a lot for Darby. This was nothing on Cody v Dustin, but Cody is certainly proving the most valuable member of the main crew. Sad to see the negative focus on the big bump here. It's not indicative of anything. In 2019 the only other wrestler around I can picture taking THAT bump is the 50 year old PCO, MJF isn't taking this to get over - he plays to his individual strengths, just as Darby did here. Darby is also not just a COOL MOVEZ~ guy, he has a fleshed out character and a genuinely cool look, which is such a rarity. I see a lot of Jeff Hardy in him, mark my words women will be going crazy for him over time.

My opinion on chair shots to the head is that chair shots to the head fucking kick arse. Now on to the next match.

The 6 man didn't do much for me. There's only so many times you can watch the Bucks have a match like this and it still have an effect. They can be good, usually as actual heels (a match I would recommend as, imo, the Bucks at their best is if you can find them vs. The Hardyz in a company called NEW from like 2014. The Hardyz are the focus here, which is key) but this brand of character-free spotfest leaves me pretty cold, and that's coming from someone who loves say, a 2000s ROH scramble match featuring Amazing Red or Jack Evans (or both!). This was also just way too long, I preferred that rushed All In main event to either of the Bucks' official AEW matches, because these matches SHOULD be car-crash sprints that last <10mins. The Elite looked like total geeks with their gamer references. Kenny's hair was god-awful, really accentuated that Malenko hairline he's got going.

Moxley/Janela was pretty cathartic as someone who's always liked Moxley a lot but knows his strengths and weaknesses as a wrestler - this was Mox's kind of match. I'm a big deathmatch fan so all the brutality gets a thumbs up from me. The only thing that held it back from being a fav from the entire year is simply that I've overexposed myself to deathmatches, and the shock factor many might feel wasn't really there for me. That's a minor thing though. The two things this had to do were to showcase a true Jon Moxley match to people who became fans of Dean Ambrose, and to get Joey over as another crazy fuck who's willing do anything - they completely aced those, really good match.

Then unfortunately we're back to dropping a bit of a turd over something. I get that they're building Moxley v Omega, a big match, but this brawl just felt poorly done. Brawling is not one of Kenny's strengths and it really takes away from all the intensity we've just witnessed when Kenny is clanking drumsticks around like a jokester.  He needs to recognize where he is and who he's in there with - that's something you'd tolerate in the jokey pre-show 'hardcore' match or in one of Kenny's low effort NJPW tag matches, not here.

Final touch on all the backstage segments so far; almost entirely awful. For everyone on the AEW roster that excites me, the main crew here seem completely self indulgent. It would be more effective if they were all just main eventers within money mark Khan's vision, instead they all have been gifted power and cannot wait to tell you how much they're changing the world, so it's all been an uncomfortable mish-mash of Cody's 90s nostalgia, Bucks' excess and Kenny's pretentious wankery under a big blanket of self-importance. I want them to make Vince sweat, but it's not always fun to watch them try.

Overall a similar number of pros and cons for this show as I had from Double or Nothing but nothing that touches Cody/Dustin as the highest high (I would not be all that surprised if they just never ever top that one), and their bad stuff was their worst yet. 

Edited July 1, 2019 by sj5522

[DavidB6937]

I'm glad they've had a few questionable choices so far in their existence. It proves that they're not this perfect company that'll save wrestling without effort, and it also gives them time to work on it. Consistency is always going to be key and it's one thing to put on a couple of crowd pleasing big events and another to create a regular product people will want to stick with.

That's no dig at AEW. That's just a far more realistic view of a new wrestling company than some have. It has some great talent, and it has some that clearly needs some work. Same with the booking and the production. The important thing is that they take criticism on board and work with it where possible.

Overall it was a decent show. Darby has a great future if he can stay off the injured list. But I'll agree that it was a real eye opener in terms of not knowing what they want to be.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Someone needs to lock Jimmy Havoc in a room with the clip of SUWA saying "necessary training, understand? Shit! SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT" on a loop for eternity (or longer)

Never seen a wrestler in a major-ish promotion with a worse look. Horrendous skinny-fat physique, embarrassing rapidly thinning hair and dressed like a 12 year old girl who heard one Marilyn Manson song in 1999 and decided they were a goth. Abysmal wrestler as well.

I was a big fan of Double or Nothing overall but this show absolutely killed any hype I had for AEW.

[Egg Shen]

12 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

I wouldn't go that far but it will never be how 90% of people want it. Agree with second sentiment. 

Reading this thread confirms that statement. Does any other throwaway form of entertainment ever get over analysed in the way Pro Wrestling does?

Edited July 1, 2019 by Egg Shen

[tiger_rick]

17 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

Reading this thread confirms statement. Does any other throwaway form of entertainment ever get over analysed in the way Pro Wrestling does?

TV and Movies certainly do.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Music too,

Not uncommon to see people pick apart production, playing ability, lyrics etc

[Egg Shen]

17 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

TV and Movies certainly do.

yeh, you're probably right Rick, but as a faily basic form of live entertainment though the over analysis of pro wrestling just seems different to me.

[Guest]

56 minutes ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

Someone needs to lock Jimmy Havoc in a room with the clip of SUWA saying "necessary training, understand? Shit! SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT" on a loop for eternity (or longer)

Never seen a wrestler in a major-ish promotion with a worse look. Horrendous skinny-fat physique, embarrassing rapidly thinning hair and dressed like a 12 year old girl who heard one Marilyn Manson song in 1999 and decided they were a goth. Abysmal wrestler as well.

I was a big fan of Double or Nothing overall but this show absolutely killed any hype I had for AEW.

it's been hilarious to see him presented in MLW and AEW as "the most dangerous man in Britain". Perhaps only in the sense that a 35 year old balding man still desperately clinging to a goth aesthetic is a threat to 15 year old girls all over the world. Since the first time I saw him, he's always reminded me of the IT technician in The Office UK (played by the guy who plays Garth Merenghi in 'Darkplace') who lies about having world records in go-karting.

He very much wants to be seen as 'the mental deathmatch guy', but tune into basically any given GCW show and you'll find countless better wrestlers, and crazier ones too. It's very transparent. It might work here if he was THE hardcore guy in AEW, but with Janela and Moxley already there, plus guys like Darby Allin who've experience working with thumbtacks, what on earth does Jimmy "Fucking" Havoc offer to this promotion?

Edited July 1, 2019 by sj5522

[Devon Malcolm]

9 hours ago, IANdrewDiceClay said:

Tony Kahn said in the post show interview there will be no intergender wrestling and no adult orientated storylines on TNT. He dressed no man on woman violence, no middle fingers, no swearing, no chairs, no drawing pins will be on the show. PG baby! Standards and Practices here we come!

"MPDTT downvoted Tony Khan."

[tiger_rick]

Not a big reddit reader, mainly because there's so much content I find it hard to know where to start, but read some reaction on there and it's pretty good. Some really interesting feedback that they'd do well to look at.

There are some things about this show and promotion that I really like so far. The look is a no-brainer. It's so sweet. It looks different to what WWE are doing but is really top class. It's similar to WCW coming along in 1996 and doing it better than the WWF. I think this is better. I also like the ring with the logo on it. And as much as I'd prefer bare ringside barriers, I did like the advertising on them. Much more like sport than TV. Production was much better on this show than DoN which is a good sign.

The big angles to finish the shows as a hook for another show/match down the line have been really welcome so far. At some point, you'll get to something like a big title win that you just need to let settle but for now, they need this. Going immediately to what's next keeps a tempo about the production that isn't there on other shows. They also don't have tunnel vision on feuds which gives it a much better feel too. They do a great job of explaining it on commentary and book the matches and the finishes with it in mind. Again, it harks back to a better time and creates a real sense of something happening. Omega had a match with the Lucha Bros and Laredo on the show, appeared to set up a match with Pentagon at the end, attacked Moxley in retaliation to set up their match in October and all the while, the commentators talked about that loss to Jericho and what that's doing to him. It's beautiful.

MJF is tremendous. You get shitarse guys who think they're this good (looking at you Eli fucking Drake) but he's the real deal. Such a douche, you'd never tire of slapping him. There are some issues with AEW chucking out guys who've developed their own act without a polish but he's got it down.

Moxley has been a breathe of fresh air. Won't dwell on him because I said it yesterday but he's so bloody good. I don't want to see him killing himself, he doesn't need to but I get he has some itches to scratch.

Continue to adore Adam Page. He's got a great theme too. He's a brilliant firey babyface with some awesome looking offence. Really hope they don't fuck him up by going all in (geddit?) on him too soon. I hope he can be part of a proper heavyweight division with guys working a different style to the flips and flops all over the under-card. Not hopeful on that.

I really want this to be good. I've said that before. I'll say it again. There was a great post from @garynysmon the other day about how he's "homeless" in a wrestling sense. I really feel like if this isn't good, I'm joining him. I'm not ready for that. 25 years after i should have grown out of this shit, I still love to love it.

I don't think it would take much to fix the issues they have so far either. That's the frustrating thing. About 80% of their problems would improve if they stopped assuming anybody watching gets all their inside references from BTE. They need to very quickly widen the scope of what they put out because they've a chance of a big new audience in a few months. I get that they're probably worried about the people who've got them to this point pissing their pants about them selling out or whatever but they need to do it and quickly. Either drop that shit altogether, dumb it down or just set it up properly. You don't have to assume every person watching has never seen you before but if you've never done something on TV or you did it two months ago, start again.

They also need to get away from putting people on TV for a favour. I'm sure it's a nice story for social media but it kills the product. It was dreadful enough when WCW did it with people like Leno who actually do have a huge profile but these are nobodies. Small mercy is it's only pre-show stuff but they need to realise the importance of that too.