Factotum Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Copeland definitely faces Kenny if he's fit and healthy, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 18 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: - AEW roster is absolutely stacked but the shows don't really feel like it. Imagine if they had all the people Copeland listed actually on one show at the same time! It'd be fucking AMAZING and can't miss. They have enough people to stack all 3 weekly shows with top guys but it never feels like they do. - Maybe they only want to work one date a month and then shoot vignettes? Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 4 Paid Members Share Posted April 4 15 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said: Maybe they only want to work one date a month and then shoot vignettes? Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted April 4 Paid Members Share Posted April 4 the Adam Copeland promo felt like a big TV star coming to your local promotion and going, "hey, some real great talent you got in that locker room, isn't wrestling great?", complete with him mispronouncing Ospreay's name to top it all off. It doesn't help that it feels like we've been getting the "I grew up watching wrestling and wrestling is great, let's all have fun at the wrestling" promo from Copeland for the last four years. I get that Moxley's taking some time off, and Kingston maybe wasn't there, but they're both guys who rule at doing this kind of pep-up rallying the troops promo, and that's only in part because they're great, passionate talkers, it's also because you believe that they're invested in what AEW is supposedly trying to do, and wear it on their sleeves. Copeland has been around five minutes, and spent a fair bit of that time in his own "wrestling his mates" bubble, so he doesn't feel genuine as the guy to be the flag-bearer for AEW and why we should care about it. A big mis-step for me, and while I ordinarily hate the trope of a show opening promo being interrupted by another wrestler, here I think it was needed - if they could have transitioned Copeland's promo into a reason to care about him and what he's doing, and given it some purpose, it would have stood out less. Luckily Willow Nightingale was there later in the show to remind everyone what a genuine, heartfelt feel-good promo actually looks like. Mercedes Moné coming out after that to say one pre-scripted line and try to get a catchphrase over, then start spamming the taunt button, was night and day next to Willow - one was everything that conventional wisdom tells you a wrestling star should look like, the other was the one who doesn't fit the bill but who was actually getting people to care and felt like someone you'd want to invest in. Put Willow Nightingale on a talk show, a game show, reality TV, anything, and she'd get over. Chris Jericho has to be the coldest he's ever been, just a complete non-entity working a story nobody wants, and, based on the level of energy in his promo, that includes himself. Absolutely baffling that he's persisting with being "The Lionheart" - firstly because he honestly seems to think he has a Faces Of Foley thing going on where The Lionheart and The Painmaker are distinct characters and not just different tights, secondly because he's doing his workrate gimmick when his wrestling has never been worse, and thirdly because the crowd do not give a shit about him at the moment and he's taken away the one thing guaranteed to make them react in his entrance music. The last point being especially baffling when he referenced the lyrics to Judas in his promo!  Mostly I thought that was one of the weaker Dynamites in a while. I enjoyed Hobbs vs. Ospreay, more than I enjoy most Ospreay matches in fact, and the tag match was great if all a bit "seen it before", but a lot of the rest of the show felt like going through the motions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted April 4 Paid Members Share Posted April 4 7 minutes ago, BomberPat said:  I get that Moxley's taking some time off, and Kingston maybe wasn't there, but they're both guys who rule at doing this kind of pep-up rallying the troops promo, and that's only in part because they're great, passionate talkers, it's also because you believe that they're invested in what AEW is supposedly trying to do, and wear it on their sleeves. Copeland has been around five minutes, and spent a fair bit of that time in his own "wrestling his mates" bubble, so he doesn't feel genuine as the guy to be the flag-bearer for AEW and why we should care about it. Wrestling your mates in a bubble is the whole foundation of AEW and a contributory factor as to why they have Collision and why Punk is in WWE, so sending out Copeland seems appropriate. The promo itself was OK but responding to Thin Skin Phil is the wrong move. Not responding would have driven him mad. Now he knows he had their attention he will be feeling even smugger than usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 1 hour ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: Wrestling your mates in a bubble is the whole foundation of AEW and a contributory factor as to why they have Collision and why Punk is in WWE, so sending out Copeland seems appropriate. The promo itself was OK but responding to Thin Skin Phil is the wrong move. Not responding would have driven him mad. Now he knows he had their attention he will be feeling even smugger than usual. Do you think? I'm not sure he cares. I get the impression he's reactive in the moment, and - to put it mildly - he overreacts to perceived slights; but I'm struggling to think of examples of him saying things with the intent of provoking a reaction. If anything, I imagine provoking a reaction is more likely to piss him off; and that he expects people to just sit there and take it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Factotum Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Doesn't Edge dislike Punk? I remember that Heyman podcast with Jericho and Edge was basically saying 'what's that guys problem' because he called him out about watching a Hockey match or something. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted April 4 Paid Members Share Posted April 4 42 minutes ago, RedRooster said: Do you think? I'm not sure he cares. I get the impression he's reactive in the moment, and - to put it mildly - he overreacts to perceived slights; but I'm struggling to think of examples of him saying things with the intent of provoking a reaction. If anything, I imagine provoking a reaction is more likely to piss him off; and that he expects people to just sit there and take it. That's the impression I've always had of him Roosty. I may be wrong, I usually am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted April 4 Paid Members Share Posted April 4 19 minutes ago, Factotum said: Doesn't Edge dislike Punk? I remember that Heyman podcast with Jericho and Edge was basically saying 'what's that guys problem' because he called him out about watching a Hockey match or something.  I don't think they're friends but I don't think there's any specific heat or grudge or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted April 4 Paid Members Share Posted April 4 Tony Khan should have just left it alone. Punk barely said anything that everyone didn't already know. Just real small dick energy coming off that Edge promo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooner Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 That was a passionate promo from Copeland. Strong list of guys for him to face that he has never been in the ring with before. By the omission of one wrestlers name, I assume he has faced MJF in the ring before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted April 4 Paid Members Share Posted April 4 (edited) AEW constantly does these really fucking great and naturalistic bits and for the most part only stick them online. Imagine how great the shows would be if they could incorporate them on the live shows? The TV would come across as a real alternative to how WWE produce stuff and the realistic natural feel of them perfectly fits the AEW vibe. Such a great and effective way to add to stories without taking up significant TV time while making the characters feel like real people. So frustrating the easy wins they have just sitting there. Separately if Tony Khan wants people to think AEW is great and fun then instead of starting his show with Adam Copeland kissing everyone's arse maybe he should get off his fucking lazy arse and book an exciting angle to open the show to get people buzzing and talking. Edited April 4 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted April 4 Paid Members Share Posted April 4 Kris Statlander is just great. There's no excuse why Khan hasn't tried to make her a huge star, especially now she seems to be injury-free. That's an excellent little segment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 17 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:  Punk barely said anything that everyone didn't already know. *Sean O Haire GIF* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted April 5 Paid Members Share Posted April 5 (edited) 16 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said: here's no excuse why Khan hasn't tried to make her a huge star Sadly, there's also about 10-15 other people you could say that about. Absolute gold mines just sitting around waiting in this company. Thinking about it, I'm not really convinced that AEW's booking philosophy is really set up to truly create real stars. Now forgive me but I'm going to do some AEW vs WWE comparison here which I generally hate doing but I think is pretty key and each style has it's pros and cons. - With WWE, I've always had the sense that their booking philosophy has always been that before Raw/Smackdown they all sit down and their first port of call is bringing up a small handful of their current chose few and saying "ok, so what's Cody Rhodes doing this week?" and then essentially book the shows entirely around whatever they are doing. Once they're content with that they fill in the gaps with the rest of the roster and while there can be good stuff there it usually feels clearly secondary to whatever the chosen few are doing. PROS: when WWE get the machine behind someone it's a highly effective way to really put someone over as a top star and make them a genuine draw, you can do some fantastic week to week storytelling, it gives your shows a clear focus. CONS: if the person WWE choose as one of those chosen few isn't actually very good or the fans don't really buy into them it makes the shows pretty fucking awful to watch, it puts all the pressure on the top guys and if what they're doing is shit or the story is bad it basically ruins the entire broadcast, unless you catch fire with a unique gimmick most your mid-card can be meandering, forgettable and pointless, very rare for any notable matches to really happen or stand out on weekly TV. - With AEW, there booking philosophy seems to be "how can we have the best show possible this week?" and they look at everything as a whole rather than focusing your efforts on one or two characters or angles to drive things forward. They believe a "great show" is priority one over everything else. Wrestlers are cycled in and out, you get unique "dream" matches, special guests and it's often very different week to week. PROS: when done right AEW shows are very enjoyable and feel special, generally pretty high quality consistency, some absolutely incredible matches, people rarely get overexposed, very strong midcard. CONS: the roster is very top heavy and without clearly defined "top guys" or hierarchy it can feel like a lot of people are meandering around aimlessly, without getting fully behind 2-3 people at any one point it can feel like there's no star power on the shows, lack of general story line cohesion or momentum throughout shows or week to week, if everyone is a top guy then no one is a top guy and without a top guy it's pretty hard to gain any buzz or excitement around your product. Edited April 5 by LaGoosh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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