Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted July 31 Paid Members Share Posted July 31 3 hours ago, The Gaffer said: Denying talking to somebody would play right in to doing a work. Oh 100%. That was the point I was trying to make that it would keep the surprise going by saying that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The King of Old School Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 Why wouldn't anyone want Shane in AEW? Would be superb TV, especially when he starts throwing them punches that everyone cries about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted July 31 Paid Members Share Posted July 31 Nobody’s going to be laughing when Hologram unmasks, revealing he was Shane McMahon this whole time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SuperBacon Posted July 31 Members Share Posted July 31 1 hour ago, Infinity Land said: I'd say there's 3 cups on the table and the person taking the pic looks to be in the space of the 3rd person if they'd backed away from the table Mate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted August 1 Paid Members Share Posted August 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwoster Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 The Bryan/Swerve segment was exactly what that match needed to get me on board. As much as I was wanting to see Swerve/Hangman at the show, this was excellent and has sold me on the match in a way I hadn't anticipated. I'd been leaning towards a Danielson win anyway, and I'm probably leaning harder in that direction now - but I'm far from certain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 1 Paid Members Share Posted August 1 I've only seen the first half hour but it was pretty brutal. The MJF stuff just isn't working for me, feels like a total step back for him as a character, reverting to the same old cheap heat, and I would say it's actually been dragging Ospreay down too. Especially with doing a pro-America story from a heel in the USA...the crowds don't seem to know how to react and I don't blame them. It's weird and feels counter productive. Ospreay vs Archer was fantastic and felt full of excitement and energy compared to the promos before and after the match. Archer looked great and needs to be utilised better. Kyle Fletcher will probably make a good heel someday because fuck me I could never cheer him after that promo. His face is so punchable and his voice so annoying he should be booed out the building doing that generic rah-rah babyface promo shite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 Doing revolutionary war schtick for your All In build up where you call fans redcoats. Comes out on Dynamite wearing a red coat. MJF is the drizzling shits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 11 minutes ago, The Gaffer said: Doing revolutionary war schtick for your All In build up where you call fans redcoats. Comes out on Dynamite wearing a red coat. MJF is the drizzling shits. Yeah he has definitely jumped the shark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 It was always going to be hard for me to care much about MJF after that Adam Cole pairing but fuck me, it's even more fast forward material now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwoster Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 (edited) 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said: I've only seen the first half hour but it was pretty brutal. The MJF stuff just isn't working for me, feels like a total step back for him as a character, reverting to the same old cheap heat, and I would say it's actually been dragging Ospreay down too. Especially with doing a pro-America story from a heel in the USA...the crowds don't seem to know how to react and I don't blame them. It's weird and feels counter productive.  100% agree with you. MJF at his best is one of the most compelling characters in wrestling, but at the moment he's acting like a less nuanced version of heel Miz, and I don't think heel Miz is particularly nuanced. Hopefully he'll find his feet as a heel soon and do something better. Edited August 1 by RedTwoster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted August 1 Author Share Posted August 1 The MJF stuff is a huge misfire. They had a guy who the crowds loved to hate, then loved to love as he grew, and while I think they could've returned him to a heel and done it okay.. this wasn't the way to go at all. Really disappointing as him re-signing should've been a big thing but now it's like oh we're getting this shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwoster Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 2 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: The MJF stuff is a huge misfire. They had a guy who the crowds loved to hate, then loved to love as he grew, and while I think they could've returned him to a heel and done it okay.. this wasn't the way to go at all. Really disappointing as him re-signing should've been a big thing but now it's like oh we're getting this shit. Have they ever revealed how long he's signed for; even if it's in the vaguest possible terms (eg. 'a new long-term contract')? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 1 Paid Members Share Posted August 1 (edited) 22 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said: The MJF stuff is a huge misfire. They had a guy who the crowds loved to hate, then loved to love as he grew, and while I think they could've returned him to a heel and done it okay.. this wasn't the way to go at all. Really disappointing as him re-signing should've been a big thing but now it's like oh we're getting this shit. Yeah it's really weird to spend almost two years deconstructing a heel character where basically you explain to the audience the reason he's a heel is because he's deeply insecure, lonely, a victim of bullying and it's all a defence mechanism, turn him into a beloved babyface where he experiences real friendship, love and support for the first time in his life to then bring him back as that same old original heel character with no real explanation and disregarding all the growth and development he went through. It makes the whole thing feel completely off. Edited August 1 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted August 1 Paid Members Share Posted August 1 The American gimmick just doesn't work. The crowd don't know how to react, and MJF needs to do his stupid "when I talk about America, I'm not talking about this town" shit to try and make it make any sense, in this case with some added cheap Andy Kaufman bits. The people he's feuding with and telling him he doesn't represent what America's all about are an Englishman and an Australian. It's invoking imagery of the American Revolutionary War, but for a match in England, where we couldn't give a single shit about that compared to how it exists in the American popular imagination, and it means the "redcoat" is the babyface for a match in an American wrestling promotion. And, as has already been pointed out, MJF is using "redcoat" as an insult while wearing a red coat. It's like the Anthony Ogogo/Cody Rhodes feud all over again. They had some perfectly good premises for a feud - even the basic ideological conflict of "Ospreay wants to entertain the fans, takes risks and gives 110% in every match" vs. "MJF takes every shortcut, and only cares about winning and getting paid" is a far better set-up - but they've fucked it off in favour of weird jingoism, though it's even weirder in this case because the flag-waving American is the bad guy. I guess they think they're doing early heel Kurt Angle, where being the suck-up "All American Hero" is so annoying that people reject it, but that was a specific cultural moment where that gimmick worked - they couldn't do disingenuous all-American Kurt Angle again after 9/11, and I don't think you can do disingenuous all-American in America today, especially not in an election year, without leaning into some pretty bleak connotations, which thankfully they have yet to do, and I don't think they will. But the alternative is that it just feels like empty, cheap, confusing heel work from people who should know better.  MJF is capable of really good work when he has something to get his teeth into. But when he doesn't - and right now he really doesn't - it's just generic, lazy heel work that's often counter-productive in how he talks about his opponents. Because a generation of fans have only ever heard scripted WWE promos all delivered in the same cadence and with all the weird Championship Opportunity and Local Medical Facility verbal diktats of Vince McMahon, MJF managed to trick them into thinking that just being able to speak confidently without a script is the same thing as cutting a good promo. Whereas it should set alarm bells ringing for a guy who made his name as the best talker on the circuit that Will Ospreay is outdoing him as a TV promo guy - Will being able to turn around the crowd chanting "USA" at him and make it make sense, and talk about American work ethic, was better than anything MJF was doing in that segment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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