Other AEW shows discussion (Dark, Elevation, BTE, whatever else)

[LaGoosh]

Fuck megathreads.

Paul Wight made a good start as a commentator on Elevation. He's naturally likeable in the booth and while he sounds fairly green at times it's clear he's working very hard to put over the wrestlers. AEW feels much less chaotic and much more cohesive when you don't have JR rambling, bitching and fucking up constantly. Not really sure what the difference between Dark and Dark Elevation is supposed to be though.

Edited August 5, 2021 by LaGoosh
Yeah fine

[Daaaaaad!]

That whole “Tony doesn’t want to be an on-screen authority figure” thing didn’t last long did it?

[LaGoosh]

Yeah that's a bit concerning. 

[The King of Old School]

It was always going to happen eventually. The guy loves himself.

What a dreadful segment that was too!

Edited March 16, 2021 by The King of Old School

[DavidB6937]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

Paul Wight made a good start as a commentator on Elevation. He's naturally likeable in the booth and while he sounds fairly green at times it's clear he's working very hard to put over the wrestlers. 

That was my first thought. He sounded enthusiastic and really wanted to highlight the talent. That's what I want from a commentator - someone who builds up what's going on on-screen rather than makes it about them, or shoehorning references, or feeling like a robot shilling sponsors etc. Granted it's only the start for him and I had the same enthusiasm for Samoa Joe before the product and (probably) Vince got to him. Wight's always been a likeable guy anyway so that's not too difficult, and I like to think he'll do his homework on the talent etc.

[Tsurutagun]

Enjoyed Wight on commentary. The good thing is no one will probably be screaming at him in commentary, so hell be fine in the future. 

The Castor/Martin match was good. The Acclaimed vs Top Flight feud is something that could be a thing for the next decade amd I'm happy for that. 

Riho is a great wrestler. 

I love Abadon. 

If Dani Jordyn can get better, she has a great future. The "Burn book" is a great gimmick. 

I'll never tire of watching Marko getting thrown around

The Tony Khan bit was not good. FWIW Uncle Tony Schiavone who rarely goes on twitter said on there that this was a one time deal and Uncle Schiavone wouldn't lie to us. 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Tsurutagun

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, Daaaaaad! said:

That whole “Tony doesn’t want to be an on-screen authority figure” thing didn’t last long did it?

There's something very reminiscent of Vince Russo in his delivery here. I'm hoping they were just looking to do something newsworthy on the first Elevation, and are not planning to make this a regular thing. We'll see. 

Whatever the case, I gave up part-way through the show. It was overly long, and there wasn't much at all to separate it from Dark. 

Plus it had the stink of The Nightmare Family all over it. QT Marshall was as bad as ever, that Lee Johnson video package was horrendous. He's utterly unconvincing when he speaks. He's a solid wrestler, but I don't see what else he brings to the table. At least they explained what "Shotty Lee" is all about. 

Paul Wight was perfectly fine, but he has some way to go before he's up to the level of Tazz, who is an absolute blast on Dark. 

[FLips]

Thought it was better than Dark in terms of match quality but worse than Dark in terms of commentary. That's not to say it was bad, Wight and Schiavone were actually a brilliant little team but it's hard to compete with Excalibur and Tazz riffing. I'd happily bin JR off Dynamite for Wight already. who I thought did a great job building up talent and giving little background details. 

The show did a great job giving us a little more exposure to the likes of Max Caster, Abadon, and other up and comers but oddly it was the stuff with the World Champion Kenny Omega that was the worst part of the show. Worrying that so much of the show was filled up by names appearing frequently in the "AEW Roster" thread.
I certainly didn't need 3 Matt Sydal matches/segments and for someone who doesn't want to be an on-screen character, Tony Khan is never off the screen. He's always lurking in segments on Dynamite, he's on Impact every week, now he's cutting really bad promos on Dark. Say what you will about Vince as an on-screen character but at least he was a great one that people wanted to see and he never bullshitted us about not wanting to be there and then constantly showed up.

Kenny Omega just isn't good on the mic at all is he? He either just about scrapes by or he devolves into some goofy idiot. Thank god Callis is there because if he wasn't who is taking this noodle-haired idiot seriously as world champ?

All in all a decent watch, but it's almost a carbon copy of a show we already have and all it did this week was make the world champion's flaws stand out and give us an horrendous Tony Khan bit. Not sure why it exists and they still haven't explained why it does.

[Guest]

I thought this was going to be a short show, but YouTube has it as two hours? 

[Dzeko10]

45 minutes ago, FelatioLips said:

Kenny Omega just isn't good on the mic at all is he? He either just about scrapes by or he devolves into some goofy idiot. Thank god Callis is there because if he wasn't who is taking this noodle-haired idiot seriously as world champ?

Yeah I'm 50/50 on him to be fair. He's good as an obnoxious heel but it does seem a bit movie villain/video game boss bad sometimes, he does have some comedic moments like Dynamite with the '69 me Don' part but I just dunno if he's supposed to be a bit of a goofy idiot or not. 

[Supremo]

Maki Itoh going back to Japan is devastating. She’s been a tonne of fun this last week or so. Hopefully she comes back regularly.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I can't get my ahead around why both their You Tube shows have excellent commentary teams, and on broadcast TV we get JR. I thought Wright was better then I expected to be honest. Found the show fun overall, but I would probably have it on in the background rather then watch it all completely. If Dark stays the same that is 6 hours of wrestling a week from them. Just seems a bit much if anything. I must be getting old.

The Tony Khan thing didn't annoy me as much as others, but because I took it as a one off for the storyline/new show. If he starts popping up again, it will get tiresome.

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

21 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Maki Itoh going back to Japan is devastating. She’s been a tonne of fun this last week or so. Hopefully she comes back regularly.

That was the highlight of BTE this week, haven’t laughed harder in a while

[WyattSheepMask]

If Tony Khan only turns up every now and again aka Jack Tunney I don’t mind it. Needs to work on his delivery though, he looked like he was about to burst into tears

[Daaaaaad!]

2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

There's something very reminiscent of Vince Russo in his delivery here.

That’s exactly what it reminded me of. Hopefully it’s just his unkempt curly locks and dressed-down look that contributed to that.