AEW London 2023

[BomberPat]

6 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Generally, I tend to think if you have someone to promote, you promote them. If you have something disappointing, make them the mystery person. But then the job is to make the match fun enough that nobody minds.

It's all in the promotion.

On balance, I think the majority of "mystery partner/opponent" matches are promotions setting themselves up to fail, because fans will always speculate way beyond the level of what the promotion is prepared or able to deliver on. As a rule, I always think that a "mystery opponent" turning out to be someone who's already on the full-time roster is always a let-down, and something you're better off just announcing. 

Whoever they add to this match, the show has already sold an absurd amount of tickets, so there's no real need for them to announce someone else in the hope of them being a draw. But then at least one of the three surprises needs to feel worthwhile to justify that - the point of a big surprise is either for reaction in the moment, or to give audiences the sense that they can't miss a show because you never know who might show up or what might happen. 

Throw in that the mysteries are on the heel side, and it's a difficult thing to pull off. Which is why I suspect that one or two of them will be revealed before the show, and leave just one as a big surprise.

[AndyUK]

19 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

I tell you what, in terms of expectation management for this show, Edge’s ‘last match’ has come at a horrible time for Tony Khan.

The internet is alight with the fantasy booking for something that isn’t going to happen.

I think that pretty much sums up the majority who are disappointed with this card to be honest. 

[Infinity Land]

I don't think we go all the way to Wembley with 3 unnamed. There will be a reveal next week. Probably not all 3, which could be playing with fire. If one is left until Wembley everyone would be hoping/expecting Danielson.

I don't think there's anyone else on the current roster available that 80,000+ people would have the right awareness. You don't want thousands going "Who's that?"

[DavidB6937]

There's only one man for the job!

 

 

[Chris B]

21 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

On balance, I think the majority of "mystery partner/opponent" matches are promotions setting themselves up to fail, because fans will always speculate way beyond the level of what the promotion is prepared or able to deliver on.

I tend to remember Deadly Games, where there was a mystery opponent to go up against Mankind. The crowd were chanting 'HBK'! which would have been the most exciting thing possible in 1998, and out came... Gillberg.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Just now, Chris B said:

I tend to remember Deadly Games, where there was a mystery opponent to go up against Mankind. The crowd were chanting 'HBK'! which would have been the most exciting thing possible in 1998, and out came... Gillberg.

The Goldberg fanfare hitting at Wembley only for it to be Gillberg would be a very funny bit for a heel to do.

[69MeDon]

4 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I tend to remember Deadly Games, where there was a mystery opponent to go up against Mankind. The crowd were chanting 'HBK'! which would have been the most exciting thing possible in 1998, and out came... Gillberg.

It never made any sense why people thought it would be HBK. That would have been completely at odds with the booking and the story they were telling.

[BomberPat]

14 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I tend to remember Deadly Games, where there was a mystery opponent to go up against Mankind. The crowd were chanting 'HBK'! which would have been the most exciting thing possible in 1998, and out came... Gillberg.

That at least worked in the context, with Vince McMahon hyping them up as a returning star, the whole point was that it was a bait and switch to give Foley an easy opponent. That stuff's great when the heat is on the heel for not delivering, but that's difficult these days - if you don't deliver on an expectation, the heat is on the booking these days, not on a heel character for robbing the audience of something they expected.

CHIKARA used to do a really fun thing where they'd draw names from a hat for a mystery opponent when someone pulled out. They'd announce something like "KWANG THE NINJA", and Bryce Remsburg would sprint to the locker room, then back to the ring and announce "he's not here!", they'd pull another name, maybe "MANTAUR", and repeat the same thing. Third time around, it would be the actual person. The art to that is in the first two names being big/fun enough that they'll get a pop, but that the audience won't feel let down if they're not there, and then for the third name to feel like another person along the same lines that the audience will think "there's no way it's going to be them", so then there's a massive pop when it actually is. Tito Santana being a surprise appearance as part of a King of Trios team being one such example.

The worst is always a mystery opponent who just turns out to be someone that's working on TV every week anyway. Always a letdown, and always makes you think they'd have been better off just announcing the match. WWE had a habit of doing it for years, even on PPV.

[air_raid]

44 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

On balance, I think the majority of "mystery partner/opponent" matches are promotions setting themselves up to fail, because fans will always speculate way beyond the level of what the promotion is prepared or able to deliver on.

It should 100% be saved for when you've 100% nailed a big deal signing. WWE doing it with Cody was perfect.

21 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I tend to remember Deadly Games, where there was a mystery opponent to go up against Mankind. The crowd were chanting 'HBK'! which would have been the most exciting thing possible in 1998, and out came... Gillberg.

You wish it was as funny as Gillberg. Gillberg wasn't a thing yet. It was just "The man, the myth, Duane Gill."

[gmoney]

23 minutes ago, 69MeDon said:

It never made any sense why people thought it would be HBK. That would have been completely at odds with the booking and the story they were telling.

To be fair, that did matter that much around that time. 

[Supremo]

A lot of whispers online about this Friday’s Smackdown being Edge’s last match on his current WWE contract. I very much doubt it’ll happen but Redge Copeland debuting in the Stadium Stampede in front of eighty thousand sure would be something.

I reckon Daniel Garcia would be a good shout.  Him coming out in a Blackpool Combat Club would likely get a big pop. The prodigal son comes home.

But yeah. Really surprised so many people are confused by what a Stadium Stampede match is in 2023. I’m not expecting any pre-tapes. It’s just Anarchy in the Arena, but in a Stadium. And I can’t fucking wait.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Supremo

[Vamp]

For all the speculating, it wouldn't surprise me if they genuinely don't know who all the mystery people are.

They could he waiting on hearing how Danielson is getting on, amongst other things. 

[Healy52003]

Going to the Weeknd tonight thus getting my first taste of Wembley

The train strikes as well as staying out in Northolt is a but is a bit of a balls. Then one of the trains in Acton breaking down made it more annoyin

You'd think they'd have AEW gear in the Fulham FC superstore 😄

[air_raid]

32 minutes ago, 69MeDon said:

It never made any sense why people thought it would be HBK. That would have been completely at odds with the booking and the story they were telling.

The story whereby the McMahons successfully got the title off and fired Steve Austin and instead of just keeping him fired, had Shane hire him back, afford him a chance to get into the tournament to potentially win the title back, then had Shane screw him over to mitigate this risk they needn't have taken in the first place? And where they continued to help Mankind get to the final while "accidentally" helping The Rock at every point instead of just overtly helping whoever they wanted to win the belt, like they had since Mania? None of it made any sense, it was textbook writing to fool the viewer for the sake of swerves rather than taking a second's thought over whether the actions of the characters make sense. It's almost like they were making it up as they went, bro.

[SuperBacon]

4 minutes ago, Healy52003 said:

Going to the Weeknd tonight thus getting my first taste of Wembley

The train strikes as well as staying out in Northolt is a but is a bit of a balls. Then one of the trains in Acton breaking down made it more annoyin

You'd think they'd have AEW gear in the Fulham FC superstore 😄

Blimey, you really are seeing the glamorous sites of "Middlesex" aren't you!