Paid Members Supremo Posted January 19 Paid Members Posted January 19 Smoking weed being their entire personality and spelling their name with a, “Z,” instead of an, “S.” I can only presume The Rascalz will come out wearing these as their entrance jackets. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 19 Paid Members Posted January 19 Enjoyed Collision way more than Dynamite. I think in the main because the shitty little stage and ramp didn't bother me with Collision, it's to be expected. The brawl with the Callis Family and Death Riders and the Trios title change were way more interesting than anything that happened on Wednesday, even if I had the latter spoiled when the Hobbs news broke. I found the rest perfectly fine. Nothing bad at all. Perry attacking Ricochet was a hoot. The little tease for Swerve and Knight I really like. Swerve going heel again is the move. Go all in on that. A bigger booking issue I didn't like was them immediately announcing a street family between Death Riders and the Callis Family B Team for Wednesday. Hold off and build to a proper match with some stars in it. Who needs to see this? I really hate Skiavone as the PBP guy. And I like Big Tone. Needs a fresh voice. Tony is fine as the interviewer. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 19 Author Paid Members Posted January 19 26 minutes ago, tiger_rick said: I really hate Skiavone as the PBP guy. And I like Big Tone. Needs a fresh voice. Tony is fine as the interviewer. Yeah, me too. They could do with giving Excalibur a break - temporarily, as he’s clearly burnt out - and using Schiavone for interviews only. I’m not sure who exactly you get to replace them, but maybe it’s time for them to train up someone completely new, and discover their own announcing talent. Quote
Chili Posted January 19 Posted January 19 (edited) Turns out the Trey Miguel release was because he said something either racist, anti-semitic or homophobic online a wee while back in relation to star of Speaking Out, David Starr and people above TK (guessing Warners or something) big noped it. Edited January 19 by Chili Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 19 Author Paid Members Posted January 19 34 minutes ago, Chili said: Turns out the Trey Miguel release was because he said something either racist, anti-semitic or homophobic online a wee while back in relation to star of Speaking Out, David Starr and people above TK (guessing Warners or something) big noped it. Seems he said a few things - a link from Outsports in 2020 actually gives context. At least there’s some form of vetting in place, even though the net being used seems to have a lot of holes in it. I hope Trey Miguel has changed, and takes the chance to show that, rather than fall into the pit of mainstream bigotry that now exists. Quote
Paid Members Kamran Posted January 21 Paid Members Posted January 21 Scheduled for Dynamite this week: Quote
DavidB6937 Posted January 21 Posted January 21 That was looking quite fun and then ai think I let out an audible groan for Death Riders/Don Callis Family. At this rate we'll be 10 years down the line and it'll be the Death Callis Riders Family and 90% of the roster will be in the group. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 21 Author Paid Members Posted January 21 If AEW were to disband the Callis family and put the man himself on indefinite hiatus, it would increase my enjoyment of Dynamite and Collision very significantly. I can’t understand how anyone would find anything they’re doing enjoyable, outside of the Takeshita/Okada stuff which doesn’t really need Don Callis involvement to work anymore anyway. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 21 Paid Members Posted January 21 An absolute banger of a card. Swerve and Knight is particularly appealing. Really quite intrigued by Swerve's current motivation. It's a pity there's a heel World Champ because Swerve going dark and challenging a babyface would have been refreshing for the product. Agree with the general concensus on the Callis Family. Actually don't mind them and the Death Riders feuding, it's a bit different but I'd rather see tension built and built through interactions rather than just chucking out the Riders to face the absolute bottom feeders in the Family. In a street fight no less, which indicates that you know this has fuck all steam. I hate Lance Archer btw. Dunno if I say that enough. He's massive and is the worst brawler this side of the WCW Power Plant. A dreadful worker who is about 67 years old. He disappears for months on end for no (on screen) reason and while that's often frustrating with the AEW roster, it's genuinely the best thing about this fucker. Quote
Infinity Land Posted January 21 Posted January 21 They've added FTR v. new signings Alec Price & Jordan Oliver. With the rest of the card in place it should avoid the 10-15 minute 50/50 that would otherwise happen if it was on Collision. Quote
organizedkaos Posted January 21 Posted January 21 3 hours ago, RedTwoster said: If AEW were to disband the Callis family and put the man himself on indefinite hiatus, it would increase my enjoyment of Dynamite and Collision very significantly. I can’t understand how anyone would find anything they’re doing enjoyable, outside of the Takeshita/Okada stuff which doesn’t really need Don Callis involvement to work anymore anyway. Thing is he does add.. something. You can argue Fletcher and Takeshita are elevated from his involvement and the Okada/Takeshita programme works well in the context of them being stablemates (and brings Fletcher into things which works pretty well). However there is far too much of him and the fact he can't take bumps severely diminishes any returns on amping up the obnoxiousness by having him all over the product. Not liking a heel works so far as getting the audience to pay to see them get their comeuppance. The only payoff I'm excited for is Takeshita face turn. The family lose all the time so theres no "gosh i can't wait to see that smug Don Callis' face when his wrestlers lose" and we can't have "gosh I can't wait to see that smug Don Callis get punched in the face". So what are we going fior here? It sometimes feels like the main goal is putting Don Callis on TV as much as possible Quote
DavidB6937 Posted January 21 Posted January 21 18 minutes ago, organizedkaos said: You can argue Fletcher and Takeshita are elevated from his involvement I think it's fair to say you could definitely argue that at some point sure. But at this point? Absolutely not. Neither guy needs to be anywhere near him. They're both over on their own merits and performances and he adds nothing to them. Quote
Chili Posted January 21 Posted January 21 (edited) I'm not that arsed about the Don Callis stuff because I've watched year long blocks of old territory wrestling where a specific manager is the anchor of a lot of the show be it in WCCW, Memphis or Mid South. I'm not saying it's a GOOD thing having Don Callis on TV a lot, it just doesn't massively devolve my enjoyment. TBH I'd have him still appear, but not live, except only with his star pupils or when an angle really needed it. I'd have shit vignettes with him on green screens in fake locations or whatever, actively relishing in spending the percentage money from his stable of goons. If there is anything missing from Don Callis as a manager, it's that he should be more obviously shown to be a money grabber and a Heenan-esq bullshitter carny rather than just a bloke who manages a lot of blokes. If he's got loads of wrestlers managed then explain how he's pulling this off. Rightly it should be Takeshita who eventually pulls the house of cards down and just goes through all of them AND ends the stable, but AEW is booked a bit like Japan with stables, but that's always a bit weird to western audiences especially when people 6 years on still kind of think in how WWE/American promotions do it, like no other way is possible. Basically, they're not as bad as The Firm or the Undisputed Era of Kingdoms or what have ye, and that's faint praise. Edited January 21 by Chili Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 21 Author Paid Members Posted January 21 1 hour ago, organizedkaos said: Thing is he does add.. something. You can argue Fletcher and Takeshita are elevated from his involvement and the Okada/Takeshita programme works well in the context of them being stablemates (and brings Fletcher into things which works pretty well). He’s probably helped Fletcher move away from the dull, meandering promos he once delivered, but ultimately I don’t think he needs him anymore. Takeshita was so terrifying and aggressive when he first turned heel I don’t think he needed Callis, but I’m sure the association helped him draw more heat. The biggest issue for me is that the very nature of the stable and his promos means the wrestlers often end up feeling secondary to Callis - he feels like the dominant force, and he monopolises screen time in a way that is detrimental not only to his wrestlers, but also AEW as a whole. Back when Dan Lambert was on AEW television, he knew when he’d outstayed his welcome and left. Whatever comes after ‘outstaying your welcome’ applies to Callis for me - everyone would benefit from the guy taking an extended break. When he comes back - if he comes back - trial him as a commentator or something, or have him manage one act only and totally change his character. Don’t ever put him in a position again where you see and hear more from him than your top wrestlers combined. Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 21 Paid Members Posted January 21 While I think that the Don Callis Family is reaching the end of its usefulness, I disagree that Don hasn't added to the shows - there was definitely a period when he was a net negative, but I think in the last eighteen months or so he's really locked into how his smarminess can be used to elevate some of the wrestlers he manages, and to give them something that they were missing. He's helped Kyle Fletcher considerably, he's a vital part of Takeshita's story, and I think it was a really smart move putting him with Okada ahead of the Kenny Omega match - they turned it into a match about heat and underhanded tactics, which helped manage people's expectations so they wouldn't be disappointed that they weren't getting a do-over of the seven star NJPW matches. I don't think there's really anyone in AEW at the moment who's suffering from association with Don Callis. There's a clear exit strategy for Takeshita from his orbit, and Kyle Fletcher will likely go it alone and turn face within the year, and I think a manager adds something to Okada's presentation that was lacking (in AEW) before. For the rest of the Don Callis Family, would Rocky Romero or Lance Archer be in a better position now without him? Would El Clon spinning his wheels outside of the Don Callis Family be better than doing nothing within it? I think the question is what comes next; the Takeshita face turn should be the beginning of the end. The way I see it, the key members are Okada, Kyle, and Takeshita, and they all have different dynamics in their relationship with Don - Takeshita is still loyal to him because Don took a chance on him early, and because he was the first member of the Don Callis Family, but maybe he's starting to see through it? Kyle Fletcher is absolutely bought in to the Don Callis brand, convinced that he's the guy to take him to the top, even started dressing like Don, but starts to have his doubts when Callis isn't equally devoted to him. Okada, meanwhile, completely sees through Don but is happy to use him to further his own career, and Don probably recognises that too but is willing to turn a blind eye to it for the kudos of having Okada in his stable. With both Takeshita and Fletcher, there's an element of trading in his previous clients for a younger model - Takeshita is "The Alpha" because he was supposed to be the guy to replace Kenny Omega, and Kyle Fletcher is Don's replacement for Will Ospreay - that I think they should make more of a point of. Takeshita's face turn needs to be seeing through Don Callis, and what annoys me in how little they've followed up on the Okada/Takeshita/Fletcher story from World's End in the last few weeks is that it shouldn't matter that those three haven't been around, because Don has been on TV every week. We should have been seeing Don weaseling out questions about it, and then snivelling and struggling to play peacekeeper to keep all of his meal tickets on side, but only serving in pissing off everyone around him. That is his comeuppance, when the size of the Don Callis Family gets too much for him to manage and he starts losing control - maybe have a couple of members simply walk away from him, ahead of Takeshita emphatically actually rejecting him. Tease that Kyle will follow, only for him to double down and stay on-side. I think you can get to a stripped down Don Callis Family vs. The Elite + Takeshita, and I suspect that's probably the eventual direction; maybe Kenny Omega/Young Bucks/Takeshita vs. Okada/Fletcher/Davis/Doyle, with the possibility of throwing in another one or two on either side. Either put an end to the Callis Family after that, or get to a point where it's basically only those members left; a singles star, an heir to the throne, and a tag team. Quote
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