King Pitcos Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 6 hours ago, tiger_rick said: I know what you mean. Apart from the Luchas though, who are being underutilised, none of those guys are nearly ready to be the big deal yet. I know. The only one who was ready (in theory) is Kenny Omega. He's essentially to AEW what AJ Styles was to TNA.* And he's had three singles losses in AEW - all to WWE castoffs. You might be right about Hardy and Harper falling down to more natural positions on the card for them, as happened with Dillinger - but his only 1v1 losses on TV/PPV are also to other WWE castoffs. I'd expect it'll be Jericho or Swagger who bumps Hardy down the card, and Ambrose or Cody who does the same to Harper, because those are the guys on that level. Then when they hit the midcard is where they'll be taking TV time away from the "homegrown" roster. The main event scene is likely going to be Omega, Page and WWE wrestlers for the foreseeable future, so Matt Hardy as a midcard babyface will be in a spot that could've been Darby Allin or Jungle Boy. Harper as a midcard heel will be in a spot that could've been MJF or Sammy. Like you say, there's a tipping point where it becomes detrimental, but for me, bringing these two boys in like they have isn't a good sign. *In more than one way, actually. Like TNA AJ, Kenny's got the workrate going for him, but in terms of overall ability, he's not really on par with the lads who have experienced the big time wrestling. AJ wasn't able to carry himself or a promo as well as the likes of Booker T, Kurt Angle and Christian were. And we see that all the time in AEW with Kenny as compared to Cody, Jericho and Ambrose. Wrestlers that have the WWE experience are better than wrestlers that don't, but a company hoping to rival WWE shouldn't be spotlighting that. Omega was their best shot at presenting someone new as better than WWE guys, even if only in the match results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew "the ref" coyne Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 7 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said: They factor in the record overall, that why Jericho is as high as he is. He was the champion until mid February. He doesn’t just tumble to the bottom of the rankings after losing the belt I would argue that if he failed to compete in any matches prior to and after losing the belt whilst others were he would go down the rankings. Why else would you have the year to date record so much more prominent, and make a big deal of resetting the W/L record if they take the overall into account so heavily? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 (edited) 23 hours ago, MPDTT said: Soooooo...Revival v Young Bucks cant be far off!! Well, it’s 3 month off at least. Then again, let’s not be certain as everyone thought that Marty Scurll was coming in too only to resign with ROH. Also, wouldn’t be shocked if New Japan tried to sign The Revival to some sort of deal Got to say, I’m quite happy for The Revival. They’ve clearly wanted out of their deals for so long now, glad they can finally move on Edited April 11, 2020 by WyattSheepMask Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted April 10, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 10, 2020 Other than the Boneyard match, I thought the stuff they did on this show hyping up Moxley vs. Hager was the best thing either company has done in weeks. Further evidence that these shows would benefit massively from just being a collection of classic matches, video packages, character/feud profiles and vignettes. AEW in particular have told loads of great stories since their inception that would come across great in video packages. For example, Kenny Omega is gonna feel far more of a star if you run through everything he and Adam Page have done thus far than having him dicking around with his shit, unfunny mate in front of Billy Gunn and his son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 On 4/9/2020 at 3:58 PM, WyattSheepMask said: And they even forgot that for 3 weeks With regards to what’s been said about AEW having “proper” heels, I think they’ve got a real possibility to have one with Lance Archer, and perhaps to the best for them to do that would be to have him take out Jake Roberts. Not right now obviously, but when they’re back in front of crowds and Lance has plowed through a few people, he takes out Jake saying that he’s his own man and can’t be controlled by anyone I couldn’t disagree more. They’re a brilliant pairing. Jake’s taper promos make him feel like this shadowy, almost Satanic figure and Archer feels genuinely sinister because of this. Writing Roberts out and losing these terrifying promos would be a bigger mistake than having Michael Nakazawa sub for Hangman Page for a week. And that was a big mistake. All in all I thought this was a good episode, with the obvious low points being Nakazawa and Matt Hardy. Even if you forget the ‘mystical’ elements of his promo, its contents were just lame. His insults are playground quality and the Vanguard One stuff was embarrassing. Brodie Lee was slightly better this week, but I’m still not mad about his character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Statto Posted April 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 11, 2020 22 hours ago, Marshmallo said: Was Gut Check a shoot? I'm sure I read somewhere that Flair rejected someone who was meant to get a contract. Some boy. Was the other way round, IIRC. Week 1, Flair was scripted to say no to that Alex Silva kid but went off piste so not only did they have to sign him and give him a year in OVW, it also ruined the build they intended to do to make the first person to actually get signed a big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted April 11, 2020 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 11, 2020 Enjoyed this week’s show, one of the better ones of the Empty Arena Era. Lance Archer looks great and I very much enjoy watching him squash nobodies. The chokeslam suplex was particularly good. My suggestion for an improvement would be if instead of different people, he just beat up Marko Stunt every week. Moxley/Hager videos were very well done and definitely the sort of thing both companies should be focusing on at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King of Old School Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 I like that they have some wrestlers around the ring, at least they are trying to creating a small atmosphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted April 11, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted April 11, 2020 38 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: Enjoyed this week’s show, one of the better ones of the Empty Arena Era. Lance Archer looks great and I very much enjoy watching him squash nobodies. The chokeslam suplex was particularly good. My suggestion for an improvement would be if instead of different people, he just beat up Marko Stunt every week. Moxley/Hager videos were very well done and definitely the sort of thing both companies should be focusing on at the moment. I'd quite like that actually. A fun little story to build to a Archer/Luchasaurus hoss battle at some point. It would get Stunt some good sympathy too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted April 11, 2020 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 11, 2020 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said: I'd quite like that actually. A fun little story to build to a Archer/Luchasaurus hoss battle at some point. It would get Stunt some good sympathy too. Ah, you misunderstand me. I just want to see Stunt squashed into oblivion every week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Blog Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 29 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said: Ah, you misunderstand me. I just want to see Stunt squashed into oblivion every week. He is an extremely irritating little gnat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 Does anyone still watch the show through ITV? I only ask because while browsing through the EPG to see what’s on over Easter I saw that the condensed version on ITV1 has been relegated to 12:30am on a Tuesday now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeronimoJacksBeard Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 On 4/10/2020 at 1:44 PM, Snitsky's back acne said: Oh my God this sounds absolutely horrible. It truly was. Seemed like the lads around ringside had been given particular instruction to make a lot of noise and create a sense of atmosphere and excitement. Fair play, made a noticeable difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 On 4/10/2020 at 3:32 PM, andrew "the ref" coyne said: I would argue that if he failed to compete in any matches prior to and after losing the belt whilst others were he would go down the rankings. Why else would you have the year to date record so much more prominent, and make a big deal of resetting the W/L record if they take the overall into account so heavily? None of it matters. The rankings and win-loss records are just there to pay lip service to the lies they told before starting up. It's wrestling booking, it's never going to make sense statistically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UK Kat Von D Posted April 11, 2020 Share Posted April 11, 2020 23 minutes ago, King Pitcos said: None of it matters. The rankings and win-loss records are just there to pay lip service to the lies they told before starting up. It's wrestling booking, it's never going to make sense statistically. Do you actually believe the nonsense you come out with? What lies are you talking about and do you actually think that is the only reason they have rankings and win-loss records? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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