AEW Revolution 2023 discussion thread

[BomberPat]

20 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

This rhetoric that AEW doesn't tell compelling stories or build feuds anymore, and is just some match-making promotion as some would suggest, is asinine.

I honestly believe that 90% of this argument come from people who have only ever watched WWE, and see "matches" and "stories" as two mutually exclusive parts of a wrestling show.

Whenever anyone tells you that there's a great story being told in WWE, how often are they showing you something that happened in a match? It's promos and angles, and matches aren't even necessarily always even the end-point any more - how many times have we seen John Cena lose a match, and then do the "fine speech" promo as if it never happened the following night? Or someone lose on Sunday night and get given a title shot on Monday? 

Nothing that happens in a WWE match matters until, at best, the closing two minutes. The heels don't cheat, nobody sells an injury because they don't want their superhero living action figures to look weak, and nothing that happens during a match plays into the finish unless it's wrestlers moving furniture around. The story and the match are two completely separate things. Whereas in AEW - the story of Hangman vs. Moxley was about whether Hangman had it in him to go the same extremes that Moxley routinely does, and he proved that he does have that killer instinct when pushed far enough, and that's a story told pretty much entirely through their matches, far more than through their promos. But if you're preconditioned to see promos and angles as the meat of the story and matches as just necessary punctuation, I can see how "they just do matches with no story" becomes a talking point - when in reality, there's no such thing as a match without a story; at the very least, both wrestlers want to win a wrestling match, and that is in and of itself a story.

None of that excuses the fact that the stories leading into this show in particular were muddled, weirdly paced, and often underwhelming, and that AEW felt a much colder product before this PPV than it has in months. But by and large, I think they do a better job of telling stories within a wrestling context - the Bloodline story is good, but it too often feels like the matches are just getting in the way of the Roman Reigns Am Dram Hour.

[Nick James]

There are people far more eloquent and knowledgeable than I in this thread alone that can put their point across better, but I don't understand this whole 'black and white' thing in wrestling (or anywhere for that matter) in that people seem to think that there are only two choices and you must pick one. From AEW or WWE, whether a show is good or not, to whether a show is good based on whether the matches are good or the stories are good. 

Its a variety show. Whether it wants to try and market itself as pure wrestling, or sports entertainment, wrestling is both, well, American wrestling is. It needs both, it needs pageantry but it also needs good matches. Japan is known for its no-nonsense approach to wrestling, but its most talked about storyline is Bullet Club, which is pure Sports Entertainment. Wrestling matches and storylines go hand in hand, it doesnt have to be one or the other. 

I make no secret that I tend to enjoy the pageantry, skits and nonsense these days more than the matches themselves, but it doesnt mean that I enjoy the matches less. Probably why I enjoy both AEW and WWE, but I also don't fool myself into the false narrative that AEW is pure wrestling and doesn't need the sports entertainment aspects.

I'm rambling and probably not putting my point across very well, but each week the same arguments seem to pop up, whether its in AEW threads, WWE threads or wherever, that you're either a fanboy or a hater, with no in-between for each product, instead of just generally enjoying both products and wanting to discuss both the positives and negatives. It gets a bit tiresome after a while and certainly has made me start thinking twice about even posting show opinions. 

[Factotum]

That's social media and the age of 'Twitter  banter' It's like an even more stupid Football Twitter due to the fact that these are entertainment products that you can enjoy both very easily. I will say I find the WWE fan side of it to be even more deranged than the AEW fans online. They're utterly obsessed.

[Sheffbag]

MJF is just the dogs balls at the moment. Fantastic Match ( going to take a star off me Meltz?) and the press conference after just cemented his status as the best thing in wrestling at the moment (to me, you may disagree but thats your opinion and you are entitled to it)

Now, where can i buy those pickles

[DavidB6937]

All the stuff about being over critical of AEW and their ability to tell stories etc.. well, this topic was only created on Friday. There was about a page or so of posts before the event itself. If that isn't reflective of the overall hype going into this PPV then I don't know what is. It speaks for itself. The energy and excitement really wasn't there and it's been incredibly up and down over time.

[gmoney]

I'd argue that saying that this PPV is the a great example of storytelling peaking at a PPV is pretty weak. The matches ended up being pretty good to great for the most part, but none of these feuds were that heated. Elite v the goth lads build was actively bad, Jungle Boy v Christian was warmed over soup, interest in Moxley v Page seemed to peak a couple of weeks ago for most, women's 3 way was a bad match with a bad story. The didn't do too badly in the last two weeks with the main event.

Do you know anyone who was really excited for this show? I'd say recent complaints about booking are perfectly valid. They aren't living up to their own standard. I hope it gets better. 

[Loki]

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

the Bloodline story is good, but it too often feels like the matches are just getting in the way of the Roman Reigns Am Dram Hour.

I agree with your point, but in the instance of the Bloodline they've told a LOT in the ring - the WarGames match, the Owens match and the Sammy match were packed with storytelling.  Which is definitely unusual for WWE...

 

4 hours ago, RedRooster said:

A good start to that would be by permanently disbanding the Jericho Appreciation Society. 

And the BCC.  

The idea of a Fight Club faction of tough boys being ever-so-tough actually sounded great on paper, particularly if it had become a "British strong" faction in some way (cough Hayer cough), but the reality of it is it's led to 4 guys having bleeding matches all the time.  And it's not like they actually ARE a faction, they pretty much just wrestle solo from each other.  They even have different styles - it's not like they're all pier 6 brawlers.  Wheeler Yuta in particular has the personality of a spanner, and has evolved into a spanner who scowls and bleeds, so it's not really compelling.

Edit:

 

2 hours ago, Nick James said:

certainly has made me start thinking twice about even posting show opinions. 

Fuck that - I reckon most people watch both products and like bits of both, don't be put off!  There will always be some die-hard fans here and that's cool but everyone else is just fitting in rasslin between the kids leaving for school and the first WFH wank.
 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Loki

[The King Of Swing]

I don't think it's been as bad as some think but the build was definitely on the weaker side, overall imo.

Really enjoyed the PPV but that's almost always been a given with AEW.

[Merzbow]

Outside of the women's angle it wasn't an actively bad lead up to a PPV. It was just very, very muted which isn't something I want from my weekly escape.

[DavidB6937]

3 hours ago, Nick James said:

I'm rambling and probably not putting my point across very well, but each week the same arguments seem to pop up, whether its in AEW threads, WWE threads or wherever, that you're either a fanboy or a hater, with no in-between for each product, instead of just generally enjoying both products and wanting to discuss both the positives and negatives. It gets a bit tiresome after a while and certainly has made me start thinking twice about even posting show opinions. 

For me I always just think that if I'm posting about something online, whether its on here or on Twitter or whatever, then it's opening up to someone replying. Could be a good reply. Could be a bad reply. That's just the nature of the Internet really and I think we all have to accept that on public places.

But on the whole I've always found this place to be far more likely to involve reasonable informed discussion. I learn a LOT from people on here. I also think the long form posts vs short form tweets allow for people to express themselves a lot better. Unlike some of the ridiculous tweets I see from angry fanboys.

So in short.. there's nothing that should put anyone off from posting opinions. Unless it's someone who's clearly an absolute dickhead just out to cause shit which youre obviously not. Your opinions are as valid as the next person. 

[DavidB6937]

Ignore

Edited March 7, 2023 by DavidB6937

[The King Of Swing]

13 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Outside of the women's angle it wasn't an actively bad lead up to a PPV. It was just very, very muted which isn't something I want from my weekly escape.

Yeah the woman's build up was shit. Enjoyed the match more than most though but that was almost entirely down to Hayter.

Ruby turning heel because she basically couldn't get the job done made me chuckle.

Strange that they had nothing for Jade to do.

Also outside of Daddy Magic's nipples and a decent match, the pre show was painful to sit through.

[Pinc]

I see a lot more moaning about tribalism than actual tribalism. Here and elsewhere.

[Guest]

From reading the raw and smackdown thread, the bloodline is doing a lotta carrying the weight of a lot of dross across both shows as well. Aew ppvs have exceeded expectations going in for a while now. Not every story needs to be a big year long ensemble, bring back being made to care about best friends Vs butcher and the blade for a month etc. neither side is perfect or red hot. If you are enjoying anything on either side then we are in a better place than when people had to pretend Wyatt was good just cause he was a bit different from the cookie cutter muscle men than filled 90% of American tv wrestling 

[The Gaffer]

32 minutes ago, Pinc said:

I see a lot more moaning about tribalism than actual tribalism. Here and elsewhere.

I agree. I think things are occasionally picked up on these kind of threads that don't really relate much to the forum itself. 

That being said, I do think putting this show in the greatest PPV of all time conversation and getting your WWE comparison in is a bit on the partisan side and probably does invites the topic devolving from the kind of on-its-own-terms discussion this perfectly good-great show deserves. 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Gay as FOOK