208 replies to this topic

[Mike B]

I haven't watched AEW in a while.  It feels like they lost the momentum they had.

 

I also think WWE under HHH has become a better product.

[PrimeTime]

I haven't watched AEW in a while.  It feels like they lost the momentum they had.

 

I also think WWE under HHH has become a better product.

 

WWE does their pay per views right but the weekly product is a bit of a slog for me. Raw can't be 3 hours, it's just too long.

 

I still think they need to cut back on the writers and let the wrestlers cut their own promos. The overscripted stuff and the weird don't look at the camera thing can be off putting. 

 

I just hope Cody is back for the Royal Rumble because they need a top babyface to feud with Reigns. There's no one left at this point. Unless of course they work the Bloodline-Sami thing and eventually have Sami turn.

[Mike B]

WWE does their pay per views right but the weekly product is a bit of a slog for me. Raw can't be 3 hours, it's just too long.

 

I still think they need to cut back on the writers and let the wrestlers cut their own promos. The overscripted stuff and the weird don't look at the camera thing can be off putting. 

 

I just hope Cody is back for the Royal Rumble because they need a top babyface to feud with Reigns. There's no one left at this point. Unless of course they work the Bloodline-Sami thing and eventually have Sami turn.

HHH agrees with you.  He wants a 2 hour Raw.

[Mike in STL]

Outside of MJF, AEW has been tough to watch lately. The problem that they're going to have is who is in line to challenge MJF? I guess they're building Ricky Starks, who I do like but he needs to be featured a bit more, IMO. Outside of Starks, who else can they program with MJF? I know you like Mox but I think he's limited and he's been a little over exposed lately. Hangman Page has no oomph and his first title run was a flop. Do they even have any top babyfaces?

 

I'm really tired of all of the Jericho stuff. This vanity project of his with the ROH belt is a little ridiculous. Whether it's bringing Colt Cabana out of storage to screw with Punk or standing in the middle of the ring having a slap fight with a Japanese wrestler that I don't care about, I'm just tired of it. And it's frustrating because I was a huge Jericho fan but what's going on with him the last couple of years has really soured me on him.

 

As far as the Elite vs the Bermuda Triangle, it's obviously the EVP's idea because they know the Lucha Brothers will go out and do choreography with them. I know that you're a big Omega fan, he's not my cup of tea but he's alright. I'd rather see him working singles matches than being a part of this shit show. Just be prepared for 4 more weeks of copious super kicks, no selling, Rick Knox looking feckless and when all is said and done, the EVPs will get their Trios titles back.

 

Totally agree on just about all counts. MJF is in this weird spot right now where he's a heel that people are now cheering for. And not in an early Stone Cold kind of way. People found Steve Austin relatable. No blue collar wrestling fan would find MJF relatable. Most wrestling fans can relate to drinking beer and raising hell. Not many are into Burberry swag. That's what's making it hard to find him someone to feud with. Do you take what was I think a top-5 heel all-time already, and turn him face? Have the House of Black be the antagonists against him?

 

You have a heel champ with no heat, and if you don't flip him, he'll feud with faces who the fans won't get behind because they like the heel too much. They either need to make MJF be and even bigger dick that frankly no one would cheer for, if that's even possible anymore. Or you flip him face and have him be the underdog to some brutes. Malaki Black for example. 

 

Mox is kind of doing the same things over and over again. They didn't lean into the BCC enough. It's like they would have a tag match here or there, but they weren't a faction that would come to the ring with one another. Or play any role in outcomes of other guys matches. It was so over, and has fizzled pretty quick. I thought Mox was going to take off, reset, but he's back to wanting to fight NJPW guys and slap each other for two straight minutes three times a match. 

 

This iteration of Jericho is bad. He's grouped with guys, I can't even remember their names. And eventually it won't matter cause they aren't The Inner Circle. MJF, Sammy, Santana/Ortiz. Guys had talent, made it a great faction. It was natural for some of them to go on their own. But the JAS is bad. I'm not a purist I guess, but if ROH was so good, it would have been on TV at a decent hour for a decent block of time. I don't care about ROH or those titles, or the ROH announcer that does their matches.

 

Maybe that's what's off about AEW. There isn't a direction they are going. It's just chaotic. 1 minute Tazz and Excalibur are on commentary. The next the ROH guy comes in. Halfway through JR shows up. You have an AEW match, a ROH match, and AEW guy fighting a one off NJPW match. Like, pick a lane. They want to cater to the nerds who follow it all. Ok, but that's a really, really, really, niche group. Story matters even less. 

 

Trios tournament being a best of 7 is a dumb idea. No one is paying attention til someone gets to 3, and then you're pretty sure it will go 7 anyway, so does anyone really care until then? 100% want Omega to go back to singles wrestling. He does all his moves at 1000mph and doesn't hurt anyone or botch anything. So much fun to watch. 

 

AEW is rudderless ship right now though. Wrestlemania season is around the corner with someone competent in charge. I may be switching back over. Thank god for DVR, I can fly through Raw in about 20 minutes. 

[PrimeTime]

A lot of good points, Mike.

 

The MJF-Starks match was solid on Wednesday night, the couple of botches aside. I would like to see MJF and Starks have a longer feud before Danielson gets involved. The babyface turn for Starks has been done well and I think MJF could get some of his heat back. 

 

One of the things I don't like about the modern product and just about all of us fans being "smart" to some degree or another, it's very difficult to maintain a clear delineation between heel and babyface anymore. Even as MJF maintains kayfabe everywhere and tries to get his heat back, many fans like him because he's just damn good. The fans still respect good wrestling and good wrestlers. It's why the fans organically turned FTR babyface earlier this year. 

 

And to your point about the niche audience for AEW, you hit the nail on the head. Tony Khan seems to assume that everyone lives on the internet and knows everything about all these NJPW guys they run in or they watch the YouTube shows, etc. There's reasons why the weekly audience stagnated and is now shrinking.

 

One of those reasons is the random matches with no build. A couple of weeks ago, Dax vs Danielson was a great wrestling match but why? Two babyfaces with no reason to have a fight just have a fight. There's too much of that kind of stuff. Even with the ROH pay per view last weekend, they randomly announce the FTR-Briscoes dog collar match, 72 hours before the PPV and have the Gunn boys make said announcement. The match was good but imagine if they actually built to it? For that matter, it would help if either (a) they set up a ROH weekly TV show if they're going to keep the promotions separate or (b) get the Briscoes on AEW TV. I know there was the controversy over a tweet from one of the brothers but that was 10 years ago and they both apologized and made efforts to make amends. 

[PrimeTime]

I've spent more time in the last couple weeks watching "Tales From The Territories" and old Mid South TV than the current product. 

[DuffMan]

Remember Big Cass half of Enzo and Cass from WWE. He's now Big Bill on AEW, I was flipping through some channels and just saw him.

[Mike in STL]

The big rumor was Sasha Banks joining AEW and debuting in LA. Didn’t happen. Could happen on Rampage, but that would kind of undersell it as the clear #2 show.

[PrimeTime]

Did anyone get Revolution last night? I watched the highlights this morning. The only big surprise was the Bucks and Omega doing a pretty clean job to the House of Black. It was cool to see FTR back. A program between them and The Gunns should be fun to watch. The Gunns have talent but need experience and FTR is the perfect team to lead them.