AEW Friday Night Rampage

[DavidB6937]

When I look at any of the AEW roster it's really only Private Party that I originally thought would be much bigger than they have been. Anyone else has really done well, if not better than I ever anticipated. Not always plain sailing and sometimes it's taken a while to really find what worked BUT I don't see that as a bad thing. I like how adaptable they are and that they generally understand what's working and what's not. I don't think there's anyone that has really been screwed over by the roster additions.

[Sheffbag]

29 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I think there'll come a time to prune the roster but I don't know that there's a problem. Financially, they use guys and girls who aren't signed to contracts and they allow their contracted talent to work outside which should mean a lower cost base. In terms of numbers, they do an excellent job of cycling people in and out on shows. Very few people seem to wrestle every week on the TV shows though all the big stars now seem to appear in some capacity on one or both of them. It's easy to forget they're still only 2 years (as of tomorrow) in as a TV show. Very few acts have been the same since the start of that and many have debuted during so there's very little staleness in general.

There has been a big change in the women's division since they debuted. Many of those originally working were the Japanese girls who hardly appear now, someone like Britt Baker is unrecognisable. Only Nyla Rose really feels like the same act as 2 years ago.

One the male side, some people have disappeared like Jimmy Havoc (RIP career) and Chris Daniels. A lot of the guys being used for jobs early on disappeared quite quickly and either aren't used or are dark acts or lackeys now. People like Pac, Trent, Kip Sabian, Lucha Bros, Hangman, one of the Bucks and Cody have all disappeared from TV for ages due to travel, babies, outside TV shows, etc. Janela and Kiss weren't on for ages either.

I can't think of an AEW "original" who is getting a raw deal. The four they are calling the four pillars, JB, Darby, MJF and Sammy are treated very well, even in defeat, are mixing it with the huge names and are talked about by every big name who has debuted recently. OC too, who should be in that group. The only one of that early roster not doing much is Frankie Kazarian and at this point in his career, I don't think that matters too much.

If I was having a clear out of the roster, the entire HFO including Matt would go. Might keep Private Party on their own but the rest aren't worth having. Brian Cage doesn't fit anywhere. Kazarian wouldn't be a loss. Lance Archer could be better served in WWE for me. There are others, like Avalaon and Luther and the like but they're cheap and don't cross my sight much.

Daniels is coming back. Last BTE had a promo for him returning as the Fallen Angel at the start

[Chili]

Stop wanting people fired from a conversation someone 'overheard' in a bar at 4am. 

[CavemanLynn]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

The four they are calling the four pillars, JB, Darby, MJF and Sammy are treated very well, even in defeat, are mixing it with the huge names and are talked about by every big name who has debuted recently. OC too, who should be in that group.

Four pillars and one futon.

[Chili]

The futon is about 10 years older than the pillars too (I was amazed to find Cassidy was my battered age). 

[HarmonicGenerator]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

If I was having a clear out of the roster, the entire HFO including Matt would go. Might keep Private Party on their own but the rest aren't worth having. Brian Cage doesn't fit anywhere. Kazarian wouldn't be a loss. Lance Archer could be better served in WWE for me. There are others, like Avalaon and Luther and the like but they're cheap and don't cross my sight much.

Don't disagree which much of that. Can they keep The Butcher though? I know he's not brilliant but he has an aura about him very few others in AEW have got.

Edited October 1, 2021 by HarmonicGenerator

[Joe Blog]

Butcher has shifted some timbre and looks like a grizzled old brawler which is no bad thing. 

[Chili]

I like the HFO and getting rid of a group of NINE heels is daft. To bring in who? They're fine, in fact I really love the HFO as goons. A thing I genuinely love that I had a fear of with AEW was it being too much. Like old indy shows where everyone is The Young Bucks. Matt Hardy and his midcard gang of henchman work for me. Christ keep Matt on YouTube though a bit more. 

[Statto]

I generally sit in the "cull the whole HFO" camp, but I'd keep the new one who looks like if you order The Rock off AliBaba.

[Chili]

1 minute ago, Statto said:

I generally sit in the "cull the whole HFO" camp, but I'd keep the new one who looks like if you order The Rock off AliBaba.

Rock is a Samoan, Jora Johl who you are referring to is Indian. But Chinese/Japanese yeah, yeah, yeah! 

[Statto]

Shit, sorry, that was maybe a bit clumsy.

Hadn't really seen him before Dynamite this week but thought he had an impressive look, and was reminiscent of a smaller version of The Rock (which is never a bad thing!) with the shaved head, tattoos & the style of his gear.

I know people usually use "like if you ordered x off Wish" but thought I'd mix it up. No implication beyond that in my head!

[Chili]

1 minute ago, Statto said:

Shit, sorry, that was maybe a bit clumsy.

Hadn't really seen him before Dynamite this week but thought he had an impressive look, and was reminiscent of a smaller version of The Rock (which is never a bad thing!) with the shaved head, tattoos & the style of his gear.

I know people usually use "like if you ordered x off Wish" but thought I'd mix it up. No implication beyond that in my head!

Nah its grand, I only knew because he turned up on the DARK shows and heard him cut promos 

He's a young Indian athlete and Matt has him as sort of a young boy for the group. He's basically they're only tweener as he'll do the dirty work, but question it. He and Hardy had some very fun introductory promos in American and Indian where Johl would politely translate Hardy but not translating all his mad rambling, which I liked. Not seen much of him, but he doesn't need much at the moment either. 

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

I like the HFO and getting rid of a group of NINE heels is daft. To bring in who?

No one particularly, otherwise it's not much of a prune, is it? They're awash with heels and they've plenty of tag teams. They'd be fine without these goons.

 

2 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Don't disagree which much of that. Can they keep The Butcher though? I know he's not brilliant but he has an aura about him very few others in AEW have got.

 

2 hours ago, Joe Blog said:

Butcher has shifted some timbre and looks like a grizzled old brawler which is no bad thing. 

Agree, he looks good but he's just not very interesting. None of the act is. On the bright side, if they cleared off for a year or so, when they came back, Ex could scream "IT'S THE BUTCHER, THE BLADE AND THE BUNNY" and we'd actually know who he meant.

[FLips]

I like BB&B. They’re solid and look the tits. I’d be happier getting them away from Hardy than dropping them altogether.

Not that I want to see anyone go but the ones to look at for me are the people who I can’t see adding much or aren’t worth the trouble.

I’d lose Hager because once Inner Circle disbands what will he do? He does barely anything as part of them. I’d get rid of PAC because with all his travel issues stop/starting any program he’s in what’s the point? Apparently he travels home after every taping and lives in the UK still but I can’t see that being feasible.

Vickie Guerrero would go and based on how little he’s done so far I’d lose Andrade too but it’s too early for him to tell.

[BomberPat]

The get-out for Butcher and the Blade is that they've already been established as mercenaries - they went after Cody (was it ever confirmed they were working for MJF, or am I making that up?), then worked for Eddie Kingston, and now they're with Matt Hardy. I know Malakai Black has pitched them as potential members of The House of Black, but just in general, that "guns for hire" pattern they've established means they could easily be moved away from Hardy without any real storyline effort.

I think the problem with HFO is that Team Taz do the "midcard goon squad" far better, and that with the exception of Jora, HFO is all tag teams. I get that it plays into Matt's gimmick - he's had a lot of tag team success, so is able to convince naive young teams that he can help them achieve the same - but I think it just waters down that gimmick a bit more, when they could play it better with Matt only managing one or two teams. I'd move Private Party and Butcher and the Blade away from him - let Private Party be a standalone heel team, Butcher and the Blade either go it alone or hook up with Black, and either keep Matt managing Angelico & Jack Evans, or find a new team for him to focus on full-time.

In terms of who I'd cut...I think it's worth cutting their losses with Brian Cage. Finish up the angle with Team Taz, have him put over Starks and Hobbs on the way out, do an injury angle and never see him again. He doesn't seem particularly well-liked behind the scenes, and once the initial shock of "big musclehead does flips" is gone, he brings nothing to the table, especially as a babyface.

Jake Hager is someone they could gladly sack off and I doubt anyone would really notice. AEW are well past the point of needing him to bring any sense of ex-WWE star power, given how much they've bolstered their roster since he was the big surprise debut, he's nothing special in-ring, and in terms of leveraging his MMA credibility, I expect that before too long they'll have Dan Lambert manage at least one MMA fighter with far more credibility and star power than Hager. He wouldn't be missed.

I've no problem with him, particularly, but Marko Stunt isn't really serving a purpose at the moment. He never wrestles, and I think waters down the Jurassic Express act as a result. There's a much better dynamic when it's "a boy and his dinosaur" being best mates without having a weird little mate following them around. Especially redundant now Christian Cage is hanging out with them as a trios partner.

Vickie Guerrero has dragged down everyone she's worked with - the only reason I can see them keeping her around is to play nice with the family to try and get Eddy Guerrero in their legacy range and in the video games. 

 

Everyone else - even the Luthers of the world - serve a purpose, either as jobbers, room meat, or having some kind of backstage role. It speaks volumes to the strength of their roster that there are so few people I would consider expendable, if I did the same thing with WWE I'd probably advocate cutting half the roster.