Paid Members Duke Posted August 4 Paid Members Share Posted August 4 MJF did that whole election schtick in 2020, and I'm mildly suspicious this America the Beautiful gimmick is his run up to doing that again this year. As others have said, it really doesn't work. That said, if he comes out to Real American at Wembley all will be forgiven. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted August 4 Paid Members Share Posted August 4 This is so cool. I would have one hundred percent ordered this Double VHS from Strong Style Tapes and my Dad would have one hundred percent rolled his eyes and tutted when the postman knocked to deliver it. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 5 Paid Members Share Posted August 5 If AEW had a Merchandise Department that wasn't the absolute drizzling shits they'd be selling this rather than fans doing it themselves. At the very bare minimum they should have done a Blu-ray set of all matches and promos. Absolutely shocking how much money they've missed out on by having such an incompetent and embarrassing merch output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 6 Paid Members Share Posted August 6 (edited) Word is that the Lucha Bros are on their way out to WWE. This feels like a bigger loss to AEW than anyone who's left so far including Cody and Punk weirdly. I wouldn't blame them, the AEW tag division is a shambles right now and AEW doesn't seem interested in pushing either properly as singles. A massive shame if true, as both men had huge potential as singles stars in AEW. Of all the unerutlised talent that has been let down by TK's wonky booking I think the Lucha Bros are the biggest misstep. As for their chances in WWE, they'll probably make a load of money and good for them but I don't think they'll get too far. Rey Fenix is an amazing sympathetic babyface but he's never going to be a big character guy and I can easily see him ending up on Speed with Andrade. As for Penta, character wise he's gold dust and could sell a ton of merch for them but in-ring he's the most indyriffic spot monkey type guy any major promotion has on the books and his heel work is too violent for your typical WWE heel. We shall see. On the plus side, if people thought Nakamura's coasting was bad it's going to be fucking hilarious seeing Penta doing the absolute bare minimum. Edited August 6 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 An odd fit for WWE in my opinion. WWE has never been good with masked luchadores (bar Rey, obviously). Penta definitely has a look but I have never seen the appeal Mind you, I thought Karrion Kross was a dead cert main event world champion level talent for WWE when he signed so what the hell do I know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwoster Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 I reckon both have a chance of doing very well indeed in WWE, assuming they are allowed to do their own thing and are not grouped up with the existing Hispanic wrestlers in the company as has happened with recent Latin American signings. I could see either or both of them having very successful singles runs, alongside any success as a tag team. Penta feels completely different from anyone else on the WWE roster and that could stand to his advantage. 2 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said: WWE has never been good with masked luchadores (bar Rey, obviously). I think you have to look at Triple H’s WWE and Vince McMahon’s separately - and while it’s true that Triple H hasn’t done a great job with Hispanic wrestlers either, there’s a much smaller sample size to make a judgment on. While I do think Santos Escobar could be utilised better, I’m not sure I’d have done more with Andrade or Dragon Lee than he has. I’d say the same about Zelina Vega. She’s a great personality, but her ring work is less than convincing. If he does get hold of Penta and Fenix and fails to get something out of them, that would be a much greater failing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted August 6 Paid Members Share Posted August 6 1 hour ago, LaGoosh said: in-ring he's the most indyriffic spot monkey type guy any major promotion has on the books and his heel work is too violent for your typical WWE heel. This is the thing for me - Penta has two speeds, and neither of them suit WWE. I've argued for a long time that, while the Lucha Bros have had some bonkers highlight reel tag matches, being a tag team plays against their strengths - Penta is at his best as a heel viciously slowing things down and picking people apart, and while Fenix has some of the best rope-work and high-flying you'll ever see, what really makes him stand out is that he's probably the best luchadore at selling for sympathy since Rey Mysterio Jr., and his best work was in mad gimmick brawls in Lucha Underground that gave him a chance to showcase that. As a team, it's high spot follows high spot follows high spot, and it means you miss out on a lot of what really makes them work individually. Maybe going to WWE would be their best shot at being separated as a team, though I expect not. As far as luchadores on their current roster go, all but Andrade seemed to be tied up in one of two "throw all the Mexicans together" stables, and if you're not called Rey Mysterio you're struggling for TV time. And while WWE would like everyone they negotiate with from AEW to look to Cody Rhodes in the "look what you could have won" category, if the Lucha Bros are smart, they'd be looking at Andrade being brought back in the Rumble with a decent amount of hype and fanfare, and then them doing the square root of fuck all with him and relegating him to the Twitter division nobody talks about. Even on the merch side, a lot of that will depend on how much WWE want to change them. Do they come in as the Lucha Brothers, as Rey Fenix and Penta El Cero Miedo? Or do WWE repackage them, and if so, do they risk losing some of that marketing appeal? There's clearly still some legal fuckery around the names, as when they wrestled for CMLL recently they worked under the names "King" and "Lucha Brother", which suggests AAA - who seem to own "Fenix" and definitely own "Pentagon Jr" - were throwing their weight around about their current names being too close to the trademark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted August 6 Paid Members Share Posted August 6 Would be properly gutted to lose them from AEW, especially if they now won’t be coming to either of the upcoming UK shows. But yeah, certainly wouldn’t  blame them as they definitely have been under-utilised and it doesn’t seem like AEW is going to do any more with them than what we’ve seen. What a waste.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organizedkaos Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 I'd argue that AEW seems incapable of booking them to their strengths because I've not actually seen these strengths everyone else talks about having only really been watching AEW since 2021 and not having watched much any wrestling between 2007 and 2021. I think I've said before it really surpised me to realise Penta was Kenny Omega's dream match opponent at the first All In show. Don't get me wrong, the Lucha Bros are clearly talented and have put on some very entertaining matches but they've been portrayed and wrestled as midcard fodder for the last few years. Penta does the zero miero thing and sticks his hand in people faces, Rey Fenix does some excellent high spots, there's some cool double teams (but it's pretty much always the same ones) and then done. Presentation wise the manager really undercuts their acts because he really does scream mate of the wrestler hype man. Now he also manages half the other luchadores it really undercuts any idea that Lucha Bros are anything special or noteworthy. They're just part of Tony Kahns stable of interchangeable amazing flying JTTS Death Triangle did some really fun matches to but ultimately doesn't have much any character (arguably it might have anti character because it doesn't really make much sense as a team). The feud with the Elite sort of had something going but nothing much was done with them after. Not trying to be overly dismissive, they're clearly talented and I always enjoy their matches but it's never felt like there's some untapped potential, kinda felt they were being used how they should be used. But I'm assuming y'all are right here - I've not seen the good stuff but it is there - and there is so much more that could be done with them. It's a shame AEW hasn't ever given them the platform to show that and it does seem a bit that with AEW's refusal to do much with them they've also gotten into somewhat of a holding pattern in terms of wrestling the same thing over and over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jesse Posted August 6 Paid Members Share Posted August 6 I haven't really seen anything of either of them outside of AEW or Lucha Underground, so maybe I'm off-base here, but from that it seems like a case where they're fantastic in a tightly produced environment but their instincts when given freedom significantly reduce their best qualities. If that is the case, WWE might be the best place for them to go at this stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted August 6 Paid Members Share Posted August 6 (edited) 59 minutes ago, organizedkaos said: I'd argue that AEW seems incapable of booking them to their strengths because I've not actually seen these strengths everyone else talks about having only really been watching AEW since 2021 and not having watched much any wrestling between 2007 and 2021. I think that's fair. To summarise, Rey Fenix is at his best when he's an underdog sympathetic babyface and Penta is at his best when he's a cruel psycho bully heel. But as BomberPat said, when they are together they effectively neutralise each others best features and AEW never booked them in either role. God bless Penta though. He's going to turn up, endlessly spam the Ciero Meido hand thing, do absolutely fuck all and go home with a big fat cheque. Edited August 6 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted August 6 Paid Members Share Posted August 6 I don't think I'll miss them too much, as is. If Tony Khan wanted to actually do something different with them and book them to their strengths then it would be a big loss, but at the moment the pair of them leaving could freshen up both companies tag team divisions so I'm all for it. Now use that Lucha Bros money to sign Grizzled Young Vets Khan you coward! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwoster Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 Penta’s short run against Cody showed me how good he can be. He pissed charisma and personality without having to utter a word of English. I reckon he’ll end up being a massive singles star for WWE, I really do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted August 6 Share Posted August 6 Is WWE's in-ring style even really that different? Yes there's a formula they like to stick to but both guys will still be pulling off that mad shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted August 6 Paid Members Share Posted August 6 12 minutes ago, Merzbow said: Is WWE's in-ring style even really that different? The difference is barely perceptible any more. The story of the last decade in wrestling is of everything becoming more and more homogenised. There will be a little more breathing room between the high spots, more focus on TV then the live audience, but that's about all the difference there will be from an audience perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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