The Cutting Edge Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Jericho looks better wearing a sleeveless t-shirt, he's got thickness to his frame but no matter how hard he tries he's got age going against him, adds to his sleazy rock star look and helps shill his latest tee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted May 14, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 24 minutes ago, RedRooster said: Double or Nothing feels very underwhelming for me right now, like it could have existed as a WWE Network "Worlds Collide" style special in another universe. They obviously have their hands tied by the COVID-19 crisis, but it's a very underwhelming card for me that features too many wrestlers that were defined down by WWE in high profile matches. Not sure I understand what you mean by "defined down". The card has 4 former WWE wrestlers on. 2 of whom are established legends, 1 is the Champion and 1 former underutilised nobody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted May 14, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 (edited) 4 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Not sure I understand what you mean by "defined down". The card has 4 former WWE wrestlers on. 2 of whom are established legends, 1 is the Champion and 1 former underutilised nobody. Don't really agree that it's a problem but I count 9 (Jericho, Cody, Matt, Moxley, Harper, Hager, Cabana, Archer, Trent) Edited May 14, 2020 by tiger_rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 They're doing a decent job to mask the silence and get it lively but the in-ring stuff stiff feels dead on these shows. It dragged until MJF and Jericho picked things up. Fun, character building squashes with a promo to top it off is a much more watchable formula for me. The "stadium stampede" sounds like a riot, should be a laugh watching them try to out-bonkers last weeks street fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum1993 Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 3 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: Don't really agree that it's a problem but I count 9 (Jericho, Cody, Matt, Moxley, Harper, Hager, Cabana, Archer, Trent) Plus Jake, Arn and Brandi managing plus JR on commentary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted May 14, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 6 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: Don't really agree that it's a problem but I count 9 (Jericho, Cody, Matt, Moxley, Harper, Hager, Cabana, Archer, Trent) Completely forgot about Cody somehow. Cabana, Archer and Trent were so inconsequential I don't even register them as former WWE guys to be honest. I think AEW have done a good enough job rebranding Hager that similar to Cody he doesn't really feel like a former WWE guy anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Re the flack on social distancing, largely America looks to be not taking that as a thing the way the uk has. Seen a lotta video and pics of people mixing , just not going to any events but still mingling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted May 14, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 4 hours ago, LaGoosh said:  Cody driving his badass truck about 3 metres into some chairs was the low point of the show. This killed me. Stone Cold Cody Rhodes revving up his truck only to drive it into a bit of guardrail then immediately get out was hilarious. Looked so low-rent. Another enjoyable show though, that. Glad they're fully embracing the 'Matt Hardy has multiple personalities' stuff as opposed to the 'Matt Hardy is magic' approach. He's been great since his terrible debut, really. I'm a Taz mark and love Darby so intruigued as to where their little thing is going. I really want MJF to pull out of his match with Marko claiming he can't risk getting injured before DON, with Wardlow replacing him. Can't wait for the Stadium Stampede match. Really hope Hangman Page and Hager fight up the stands and into Tony Khans private box where they stop fighting for a bit to take a bollocking and clean up, instead of focusing on winning the match. That'll make stars of em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UK Kat Von D Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 (edited) If people are going to so loosely define WWE guy as anyone who has worked for them, Matt Jackson is also a WWE guy because he did some squash matches years ago. Archer, Cobana and Trent had such nothing runs a long time ago that counting them as WWE guys is mental. Jim Ross is the only guy in AEW who is surviving off his WWE run without providing anything new. Edited May 14, 2020 by UK Kat Von D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 (edited) 57 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Not sure I understand what you mean by "defined down". The card has 4 former WWE wrestlers on. 2 of whom are established legends, 1 is the Champion and 1 former underutilised nobody. It's not so much the fact they're on the card for me, it's where they are on the card. Jon Moxley vs a very tepid character in Brodie Lee as your AEW title match is a far cry away from the intriguing matches we were getting with Chris Jericho on top. Then you have Matt Hardy and Jake Hager in one of your other top three matches. While Cody Rhodes feels far removed from his time in WWE, neither of these two wrestlers do. And while there are other wrestlers in the Stadium Stampede match, having these men in such a high profile match makes it feel a bit less important. I appreciate this is entirely subjective, but I find it really hard to look at Jon Moxley and not think "oh great, it's Dean Ambrose", Jake Hager and not think "ugh, Jack Swagger", Matt Hardy and not cringe at his awful gimmick...same story with Brodie Lee. With the exception of Moxley, I just don't think these wrestlers are particularly worth having around, especially when they have far more interesting options floating around on their undercard. Edited May 14, 2020 by RedRooster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIDDUM_N_STYLE Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 50 minutes ago, Callum1993 said: Plus Jake, Arn and Brandi managing plus JR on commentary. Tony Schiavone as well, and Taz on the pre show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted May 14, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 Jake Hager has been great in AEW so far. The Mox match was overlong and shit, but beyond that he’s been brilliant in the enforcer role. He’s also the perfect fit with guys like Jericho and Guevara acting like idiots, always on the cusp of corpsing in the background. Case in point - him trying not to laugh at Sammy Guevara’s, “El Honourable,” line on last night’s show was better than almost anything he did in WWE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UK Kat Von D Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 Revival are most likely going to be arriving soon, probably taking Young Bucks out of the Stadium Stampede match. Hoping they bring Rusev in unless he just wants to fuck about with Twitch for a bit. Bringing in guys who worked for WWE is fine if they have something to offer. The problem  when TNA did it was they would literally bring guys in to milk their WWE value and put them over their own talent. AEW haven’t done that at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 26 minutes ago, RedRooster said: It's not so much the fact they're on the card for me, it's where they are on the card. Jon Moxley vs a very tepid character in Brodie Lee as your AEW title match is a far cry away from the intriguing matches we were getting with Chris Jericho on top. As much as I do think Brodie is completely the wrong choice for that role, they have at least invested time into the gimmick and the group and it's not just a random OMG THAT GUY FROM WWE LET'S SHOVE HIM IN THE MAIN EVENT. So while I'm not exactly thrilled at the idea, and there are plenty of other matches I'd rather see, at least it's something they've been pushing. A lot of the talent seem to be getting the slow burn approach at the moment which isn't a bad thing by far. If it was WWE they could be pushed AND dropped back down before crowds even come back. Here it feels like they want to support their talent, build them up and try to pull the trigger at the right time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted May 14, 2020 Paid Members Share Posted May 14, 2020 12 minutes ago, UK Kat Von D said: Bringing in guys who worked for WWE is fine if they have something to offer. The problem  when TNA did it was they would literally bring guys in to milk their WWE value and put them over their own talent. AEW haven’t done that at all It's a fine balance. Guys like Moxley and Jericho are bonafide top guys anywhere, so they don't feel like cast-offs - least of all Moxley, who very publicly chose to leave WWE and to come to AEW, so that gives them major kudos. The sweet spot is taking someone that was underutilised in WWE and making them a star elsewhere, to create a real sense of, "they didn't know what they had with this guy". But if you fuck that up, and they don't deliver, you end up making it look like a guy who was a nobody in WWE is good enough to be a somebody in your promotion, which makes you look weaker by comparison - TNA made that mistake all the time, but I think so far the only times AEW have hit that note have been Shawn Spears, and possibly Jake Hager's debut. Whether Brodie Lee falls more on one side or the other likely remains to be seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts