AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[Hannibal Scorch]

18 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Who's screaming and shouting, rick? No need to be a nob about it - nobody slagged you off personally for liking said delineation. I said why I didn't like it, and I don't agree with a single thing you said. And just because it's a minor detail doesn't mean it's not worthy of mention. That's what a fan forum is for.

I think he meant the saddo's like me that notice, but I could be wrong.

[tiger_rick]

No, I meant the company/commentary team don't scream and shout about it. They never mention it.

I wasn't being a knob at all but hey ho.

Edit: DM'd Carbomb. Challenged him to a fight in the car park. Loser gets custody of HulkamaniaFan.

Edited February 28, 2025 by tiger_rick

[SuperBacon]

37 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Edit: DM'd Carbomb. Challenged him to a fight in the car park. Loser gets custody of HulkamaniaFan

[Carbomb]

I won. So I lost.

EDIT: None of that made any sense. I'd make a cheap joke about supporting Hull City, but I remembered I support Red SpursMan United, so that doesn't work either.

Edited February 28, 2025 by Carbomb
Graeme Le Saux

[The King Of Swing]

Dammit they had me with that last role up, in the main event. Cracking match. 

Rock solid show for the most part. And a tasty looking Collision, coming up. 

Edited March 1, 2025 by The King Of Swing

[LaGoosh]

Queen Aminata vs Julia Hart on Collision was damn good. Everything Aminata did looked like it really, really hurt in the best possible way. Great showing from her and I hope she gets featured more.

[RedTwoster]

19 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Queen Aminata vs Julia Hart on Collision was damn good. Everything Aminata did looked like it really, really hurt in the best possible way. Great showing from her and I hope she gets featured more.

Yeah, she was really impressive. Id like to see more of her, she’s really talented. A win over Julia Hart is quite the endorsement these days, so I suspect we will.

For me, this was the weakest episode of Collision for a while, in that there was a heavy emphasis on wrestlers and acts I just don’t care for - Cole and pals, and the Boom boys, for example. That, and the show felt very skippable.

The wrestling was good, but I do wonder if Khan phoned it in a bit knowing that they were up against Elimination Chamber. 

Edited March 3, 2025 by RedTwoster

[LaGoosh]

Just now, RedTwoster said:

The wrestling was good, but I do wonder if Khan phoned it in a bit knowing that they were up against Elimination Chamber. 

Almost definitely. They usually do when up against a WWE PLE.

[tiger_rick]

A very enjoyable but fairly inconsequential episode of Collision, I thought. Can't imagine many people saw it given the other stuff going on in the world. 

Big fan of Will Hobbs standing tall at the end in his home town. A real positive AEW trope. Hobbs has everything. He's one of their guys who needs his next 18/24 months plotted out, where is he going, who is he beating and when, and what are the moments that will solidify him as a top, top guy. There is a massive queue of guys who should/could hold the world title in the promotion. Hangman, Swerve, Kenny, Ospreay, possibly Darby and MJF. He should be right on that list and I'd like to see him take the belt no later than end of 2026.

Fucking @Supremo. Say their name, and they appear. I don't believe in this BOOM shit.

It's a consequence of watching too much wrestling but as soon as Adam Cole walks out in the middle of the Shane Taylor post-match, you know the fix is in. Just such an obvious thing. That should have been done two or three weeks ago really to sow the seeds. If you don't do that, just go the time limit and then have the STP lads jump Cole. I don't mind a non-finish that makes sense but I think the time-limit draw is the better option here if you're not putting Cole over. 

Enjoyed the Brody/Okada stuff. That should be a great deal between those two.

The Outrunners looked like absolute nerds but they're cannon-fodder in that division compared to Hurt Syndicate, Cage & Archer and Brody & Buddy so no issue there.

Good taped promos from Kenny & Toni.

I liked Harley just popping up at the commentary desk for a bit of development rather than some awkward commentary spot. Should happen way, way more, IMO. I said something similar recently, give it a sports desk feel. 

Wrestling was fine. Seen fans of the opening match. Was OK, I just don't care for the Undisputed lads. An FTR heel turn might be interesting though. Tweaking Julia's catchphrase and music to "the Hart always wins" is clever. Liked that too. Good stuff in there as Gooshy said.

Really like Wheeler Yuta's work. Lots of subtle stuff that gets the crowd on his back. Don't ever see him being a big deal but he's very good. Lads like him and Garcia are the reason a load of the signings are just unnecessary. Sure, Strong and O'Reilly are fine workers but there's nothing they do that hasn't been seen a hundred times in ROH or NXT. 

 Fine stuff. Better than watching some WWE PPV where nothing major happens...

[LaGoosh]

19 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Really like Wheeler Yuta's work. Lots of subtle stuff that gets the crowd on his back. Don't ever see him being a big deal but he's very good.

Yeah Yuta has been low key great the past few months. Especially in multi man matches where he just pops up out of nowhere like a gremlin to cause chaos, gets loads of heat then runs away or gets destroyed. I don't think he's got a high ceiling but he's playing his role pretty perfectly.

One thing I particularly like about AEW at the moment is it has a decent handful of heels who get real heat and are utterly fearless and unselfish in making themselves as snivelling, pathetic, lame, viscious and cowardly as possible. No room for cool heels in AEW at all right now. And I would say it's definitely been a reason the crowds seem hotter and more invested recently.

 

Edited March 3, 2025 by LaGoosh

[organizedkaos]

Quote

Hobbs has everything.

Does he though? I mean everyone thought Wardlow had everything. He had a lot, there aren't a lot of big men in AEW and I think that taps a part of wrestling fan's brain where there should be a few giants around the main event. Problem is fans don't take to them so much outside of the big man role especially when there's all the shiny workrate main eventers just right there putting on their classics. Both Hobbs and Wardlow aren't bad wrestlers at all and they have an incredible look and way of carrying themselves along with a good few flashy move. They work really well in certain roles and seem to flounder the moment they leave that space. Admitedly Hobbs is a better promo than Wardlow (who wasn't actually very good outside of a couple noteable moments) and character stuff can go a long way. But his character is "big man who other big men pick on"

Hobbs is good and I am enjoying his stuff but people always jump on the next big big man in AEW and we've yet to see AEW figure out how to main event them...  They work in certain roles but either AEW doesn't really know how to book/produce their matches into main event space or the the fans are too conditioned for the high workrate stuff for the big men to work in the main event.

I'm not he can't main event AEW. I've just yet to see much evidence these characters do work at the top, be it because of what the fans want, what Tony likes or how the bookers approach AEW booking. He's neither shining in terms of character nor wrestling ability... yet.  He could get there but they'd need to put faith in him as to give him the experience to get there and they'd also need to condition the fans a bit. I'm not sure they care to, nor am I sure they need to.

[LaGoosh]

I like Hobbs too but I don’t think he's shown he's main event ready yet. He just lacks the charisma and intensity. He needs to discover that special something to get him to the next level. I'm not convinced he has it in him really. 

Maybe they need to find him a tag partner or manager who can bring something else out of him.

[RedTwoster]

1 minute ago, LaGoosh said:

I like Hobbs too but I don’t think he's shown he's main event ready yet. He just lacks the charisma and intensity. He needs to discover that special something to get him to the next level. I'm not convinced he has it in him really. 

Maybe they need to find him a tag partner or manager who can bring something else out of him.

This is pretty much how I feel about him. He’s yet to show much of anything on the mic, and I can’t think of an AEW success story that doesn’t have it in them to cut a killer promo. 

He may well get to the point where he can do that, but for me, he’s very much a work in progress. I like him, but not to the point I think he’s being underutilised.

[tiger_rick]

Oh wow, surprised at such push back.

The Wardlow comparison is a good one. I think the difference is that Wardlow, may he rest in peace, never did anything outside of that MJF angle. His work in it was very good and got him over big time but he really was just a big brutish Virgil. He didn't have the body of work to really make it outside of that. 

It is hard to spot a real talent from a bleeding Ryback or something so I see the trepidation but I think his work is very good, he's worked great with people of all shapes and sizes, particularly people as big or bigger than him, which isn't easy. He talks really well and shows good charisma in the ring and in pre-tapes. He's not cut too many live promos, which is probably them protecting him and would be the biggest worry for me, but I think the rest is there. He's got over as a big, powerful dude without any real gimmick. He obviously has the nickname but other than that, he's not doing Mark Henry style vignettes or anything.

This bit is a bit sensitive but I'm going to say it anyway and I hope people realise where I'm coming from. Hobbs being a black man is important too. He's a brilliant role-model for a lot of people of colour and without being too cynical, you have to capitalise on that. Adding Hobbs to Swerve, Mercedes. Lashley, Shelton, MVP, etc as real stars of this promotion who are black or mixed race is a great thing for representation and for attracting fans to the product. It's win/win.

He's definitely not the finished article but he's someone who is close enough to the level, that that's why I think you have to be really careful with him now and know exactly where you want him to go over a couple of years. The only things missing are live promos and real top level reactions, which you can build with more experience, putting him in with top people and giving him wins and moments at the right time. The worst thing to do would be to drift along going round and round the same shit, turning heel, turning face, until his contract runs out and he just ends up a solid pick-up for WWE.

[HarmonicGenerator]

57 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I like Hobbs too but I don’t think he's shown he's main event ready yet. He just lacks the charisma and intensity. He needs to discover that special something to get him to the next level. I'm not convinced he has it in him really. 

Maybe they need to find him a tag partner or manager who can bring something else out of him.

Or some kind of match, on PPV, where he is really, really showcased against all the other big lads on the roster. Can you imagine the meat involved in such a match? It would be madness.

 

 

 

Why Tony why ?