Paid Members Supremo Posted July 21, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 21, 2019 (edited) Didn't see a thread for this, so as the build up begins it's probably best to start one up. Â Current Card Adam Page vs. Chris Jericho for the inaugural AEW World Championship Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega Best Friends vs. The Dark Order - Winners receive a first round bye in the AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament Lucha Brothers vs. The Young Bucks - Ladder match for the AAA World Tag Team Championship Cody vs. Shawn Spears (with Tully Blanchard) Â So, AEW's second proper show after a couple of smaller shows to iron out the kinks. A show that sold out 12,000 tickets in 15 minutes, with 72,000 people reportedly in the online queue. A show Dave Meltzer has somehow decided could've sold 130,000 tickets, the mad bastard. It looks a great show on paper and is easily the show I'm most excited about in the North American market in the upcoming months. All the matches look like they're going to deliver and despite how little visibility they currently have they've still done a really good job building the matches up. I'm invested in all of them, even if I still have absolutely no idea how the first round bye stipulation in the tag match works. The teams have to win two separate matches in order to only get one first round bye in a tournament? What sense does that make? The only thing I can figure is that it's going to be a one-night tournament, so it allows them to be fresher than everyone else. If that's not the case then it's officially LOLTNA booking at its worst. On a more positive note, they seem to be continuing to listen and learn, with the excellent, "Road To..." video series having been moved from Cody's personal YouTube channel to the official AEW channel. Episode 1 is below and it's a brilliant example of how easy it is to promote professional wrestling when you stick the basics. Awesome. If that's any indication of what their TV show is going to be like then I'll be very happy indeed. Both Schiavone and Ross are used to perfection, giving the product a huge sense of legitimacy, and although Adam Page's promo feels a little bit phoney I still absolutely love that guys are allowed to sink or swim on their own dime and in their own words. I'd honestly take someone dying on their arse cutting their own promo than everyone just being adequate at reciting a script filled with weird words no normal human would ever use. Fair play to Spears, too. Never thought he had it in him but he does a great job selling his match with Cody, telling the story and coming across as a prick. The Tully Blanchard thing goes completely over my head, he was way before my time and I don't think I've ever seen him before, but hopefully it plays out well and allows Cody to use Dustin as his back up. Anything that gets Dustin on the show is a plus for me. Poor Luke Harper though. The more successful Spears and Dustin prove to be, the less chance he'll ever be let out of his contract. Hopefully he gets out eventually. The one thing I feel like this roster is missing is a couple of big, tough bastards like Luke Harper and Rusev. Originally, I'd have said the most intriguing not-yet-announced thing about the show was how Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus were going to factor in, since they're my new favourite act in all of wrestling, but then Conrad went and announced CM Punk for Starrcast, which even if you're super jaded and don't think anything is going to come of it, it's still hard to not be a little bit excited about. Imagine if he announced he was coming in full-time? Or even just for one match? After all these years of CM Punk chants on WWE television? You have to assume Tony Khan is willing to throw millions and millions at him, he'll likely be treated like royalty that weekend, and it's not as if he'd be leaving behind a particularly successful MMA career. In fact, if Punk hates Vince so much, wouldn't this be the biggest, "Fuck You," of all time? I also wonder if he needs the money after how much he spent in legal costs last year. Surely the UFC aren't willing to keep paying him so much to stink up the joint every time. As I recall, his second fight didn't do anywhere near the business of his first, so there doesn't seem to be much incentive for UFC to keep him around, whereas he'd likely make a huge difference to AEW. I also wonder if anyone will ask Punk about Cabana at the Q&A, or if Cabana will even be there himself? So yeah, isn't it great being excited about wrestling again? I miss this. Let's just keep our fingers crossed about what pre-show they put out. Hopefully Alex Marvez has a sore throat that night, too. Edited July 21, 2019 by Supremo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UK Kat Von D Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 Their latest video shows huge steps in terms of improving. Ross was perfect in the interview role and should stick to that. Was weird seeing Schiavone and Ross in the same video, and hopefully it means they are considering a switch up on the announcing booth. CM Punk is a huge deal, if they can sign him it’ll be the shot in the arm they need. Ideally show him in the crowd at All Out, then have his proper debut when they start the weekly show. All Out could close with just his entrance music playing and him walking out, then standing there for ten minutes to be the biggest thing in wrestling. Everyone will be expecting his first promo back to rival his pipebomb promo, so he will bring in big viewing numbers without even wrestling. Even without him the card looks great, and very encouraging since they are still early days. Maybe it’s just because I haven’t been burnt by AEW like I have been with TNA or WWE, but I’m more excited by this promotion than I have been for years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheToeSucker Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 Punk's not returning. Move on, he has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seratonin Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 CM Punk. Fucking lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPDTT Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 (edited) Snip Edited July 22, 2019 by Chest Rockwell Quoting like a tit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted July 21, 2019 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 21, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, TheToeSucker said: Punk's not returning. Move on, he has. Whilst you're probably right, the last time he addressed it, leading into, "All In," last September, he didn't shut it down 100%. I've tried to time stamp the video below, but if it doesn't work they start talking about him potentially appearing at All In at 20:23: "I'm not gonna sit here and be like 'no, no'...something might come up...some fun might be had." He also says no-one had ever approached him with a real, straight up offer. I suspect every promoter out there at the time just assumed they couldn't afford him. I bet Tony Khan's offer would be pretty fucking straight though. Isn't the rumour that Moxley is on two million a year or something? They definitely have money to spend. Plus, since that interview, Punk also did that run-in on a shitty independent, which I imagine he did for no money at all, so you have to assume there's something there. I dunno, maybe it's just wishful thinking. Fun to talk and think about, though. It'd be huge if it ever happened and AEW seems the perfect chance for the stars to align. A rich as fuck smart fan, willing to spend millions, happy for the guys to come up with their own shit themselves. He'd be treated like a God by both the company and fans alike. Surely that's got to be more fun than being humiliated by bad part-time fighters who are still light years ahead of you. If nothing else, it's sure going to make for a weird atmosphere if he comes out at Starrcast and goes, "nah, never." 1 hour ago, MPDTT said: A Awesome post! I'm with you! Probably not necessary to quote the entire post, mate. Edited July 21, 2019 by Supremo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted July 22, 2019 Moderators Share Posted July 22, 2019 Wake me up when Dustin is booked. I'd buy this on box office if he's got something decent lined up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UK Kat Von D Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 8 hours ago, TheToeSucker said: Punk's not returning. Move on, he has. Well he is appearing at Starrcast that weekend so he has not moved on. If AEW wasn’t around I would agree he was done, but all the pieces are in place to make it more appealing to him now than ever. Telling fans to move on is pretty stupid at this point  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Nick James Posted July 22, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2019 That poster is amazing, really well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 Re: Punk - I have a lot of respect for the guy for staying away and not really getting involved. I'd much rather he did that than suddenly just jump in because someone threw shitloads of money at him to be honest. But I suspect it wouldn't be about the money - AEW would offer him a freedom that guys like him crave in the business, so I guess we'll see. Solid card so far. I'll never get bored of Luchas/Bucks working together, and Cody/Shawn has had a solid build which AEW really need to keep going with other feuds. Would be a bit more excited for Page/Jericho if Hangman had more build before getting to that spot. Feels a little rushed with him for me, but they've still got time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted July 22, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2019 I have to say, the event poster for this is the dog's bollocks. The poster alone would probably have gotten me to watch the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 Maybe Punk doesn’t have to wrestle at all? He’s a smart dude and would certainly add to their creative/production team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted July 22, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2019 Yeah - I can see Punk showing up in AEW, but not wrestling. Maybe one and done, at most. To get into fantasy booking territory - who would his opponent be in AEW? I'd put good money on it being Cody, but who would people actually want to see him face? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted July 22, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted July 22, 2019 1 minute ago, BomberPat said: Yeah - I can see Punk showing up in AEW, but not wrestling. Maybe one and done, at most. To get into fantasy booking territory - who would his opponent be in AEW? I'd put good money on it being Cody, but who would people actually want to see him face? I'd say Dustin could carry him to something north of reasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Undefeated Steak Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 I'm out of the loop - how are they managing to sell 12,000 tickets in 15 minutes? The card looks good and I've heard positive things about the shows, but it just seems *so far* ahead of what any other American non-WWE company have done in the past however many years. I don't think TNA or ROH ever came close to doing the numbers AEW are, even at their heights as relatively established companies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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