JLowe
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Posts posted by JLowe
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To be clear, my concerns with the anti-Semitic bullying motivation angle are:
1. Wrestling storytelling isn't known for execution of nuance
2. Wrestling plays heavily into stereotypes because they stereotypical wrestling audience is prejudiced.
I recognize that AEW is generally a little better at these things, but it's still requiring a lot of faith (pun intended).
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4 hours ago, Zimbra said:
It says something about Baylor that Art Briles is probably only the third-biggest piece of shit to work there in the 21st century.
How fucking stoked do you think Grambling is that a war started so they could dump this news?
I know their basketball coach tried to cover up a murder, but the sheer number of Briles’ covered-up crimes (which extend beyond the dozens of rapes) and total lack of contrition is sociopathic. I won’t spend a dime in Waco or McClennan County since they were complicit as well.
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2 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:
They were referring to Voodoo Kin Mafia. The terrible TNA group of Billy Gunn Road Dogg and Konan. And I think R-Truth was in it too maybe. They used Vince's initials to be edgy. And challenged DX to a match like Bischoff did with McMahon. Peak TNA cringe.
I had forgotten that and now I’m very angry that I now have to remember again.
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32 minutes ago, Peck said:
I'd be SO pissed if my mom didn't know the difference between "your" and "you're"
If you saw his WrestlingClassics Instagram comment, she didn’t teach him the difference between “their” and “there”
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1 hour ago, Blue Dragon said:
Road Dogg filed to trademark "Road Dogg BG James". A month ago Billy Gunn filed to trademark "The New Age Outlaws".
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2 minutes ago, Horatio said:
Has anyone mentioned the awesomeness of a Danielson vs 2.0 fight-forever-we-just-can't-be-friends possibility?
I mean, Danielson has never disappointed me, but he's never been my favorite either (vanilla is my favorite, too, btw). I originally thought pairing with 2.0 was a good idea; however, the booking of the two blandest guys to come along SINCE Danielson started, wanting to get in HIS face and fight over whose vanilla has the highest alcohol content makes TOO MUCH SENSE. Garcia has to eventually find his way out of this.
I mean, Garcia is basically Lance Storm with a Masshole accent.
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1 hour ago, Log said:
Reigns could totally find a nice little movie career as straight-to-VOD Jason Momoa.
how has WWE films not already done that?
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On 2/23/2022 at 12:35 PM, RIPPA said:
The first five rounds today where the wide receivers and I legit think the only one I have heard of is Vinny Papale (who is Vince Papale's kid)
I know Texas ex Brennan Eagles was taken by someone.
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11 minutes ago, EVA said:
In terms of whether Punk is dumb for not seeing through MJF, you have to look at it through Punk the character’s eyes. Again, going back to 2003: Punk’s origin story is that he was hurt kid who was let down by someone important to him and grew up to be an adult who hurt others in return. So, when he hears MJF’s story, he’s hearing his own story all over again, except he’s the villain who let a hurt kid down. That shit touches something deep inside a person, and it makes perfect sense that the emotional side of Punk really just wants to give MJF a hug, even as there is still the rationale side of his brain questioning whether MJF can be believed. A+ psychological storytelling.
Yeah, but if you're trying to get a large mainstream audience you can't assume that all of us are familiar with everything Punk has done in his 20+ year career. Now, if you have him come on next week and tell me that story, then fine.
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I'm going to be the contrarian and say this show left me wanting.
The Battle Royale was just that. Too much going on for the first 15 or so minutes, then some decent action once it settled into a regular scramble match. John Silver comes out with the rub, and they could consider having him go solo and get a short TNT title run. Everybody wants FTR-Bucks and FTR-ReD, but you're going to get Bucks-ReD costing each other their shot so I have to suffer through another 3 months of JE as champs.
Starks is too good to be in Team Taz. Good match, although I know we're all a little disappointed we won't have a total Hoss ladder match. Having Dante run in and cost Starks the match would have been good booking IMO.
I talked about the MJF promo up above. As Men on Film would say, "Hated it"
The Kingston-Jericho face off was very good, maybe a little too smarky/shooty while also making fun of it. Speaking of "what's his name", the only Go Big Show promo was at the very end right before that show went live, which felt intentional. On the other hand, 3 or 4 of those excruciatingly cringe Chad commercials was 3 or 4 too many.
One problem with so many big long promos is that every single match had PiP and it's starting to hurt the show.
Bunny pulled out an Anna Jay miracle with Jade. Only missed spot was a Jade kick to the gut early on. Bunny got a convincing nearfall. The announcers did a good job of putting over the idea that it's easier to scout Jade now that she's had enough matches. Couple of new moves and the reversal into Jade's finisher was well executed. Honestly, might have been second best match of the night.
The Penta Oscuro opening was pretyt good music and something different, but then he was just same old Penta minus the glove bit. Blocking the mist was a very nice touch though. I don't know who Buddy Matthews is and they didn't make me care. Brody King is the guy who's working the door of the punk club and going to barber school. He has to start showing more.
Main event was great. Danielson was kicking the shit out of him. Honestly, I didn't think Garcia showed as much violence as Danielson was willing to take. The 2.0 run-in was very NWO B-team (and I like them as a tag), but we got the nice Mox-Danielson match.
They built a lot to the PPV here, but overall this show was just there.
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1 minute ago, Matt D said:
Re: MJF Promo
So, as the only Jewish kid in a 97% Irish Boston suburb who had coins thrown at him at elementary school (which was not necessarily a scarring moment; at the time it was more of a confusing one), I'm not entirely sure what to make of this. I imagine it made some people feel seen, which is always a good thing. It feels real because it is. There are receipts, as we've seen. It feels like a villain origin story for MJF which you don't always see in wrestling, but then there's a reason why you don't always see that in wrestling. I'm not saying nuance doesn't draw but... We're on the precipice of a dog collar match. The idea is to mimic Valentine vs Piper. Bloody, straightforward revenge where the hero finally gets the villain who's been dodging him. Visceral and violent, and I'm not entirely sure I want to even see the match after that promo. I get there's an offramp here where Punk shows mercy and MJF takes advantage of that, not even in that he was luring him in just that it's too late and the damage is done and maybe that opens a door for a face turn in a year or two or something, but MJF's whole act is that he's the worst of the worst, that he's not a sympathetic heel in the least and this shattered it. I'd say they have a plan and to wait it play out, but the track record on that in wrestling in general isn't all that great. Wrestling making you feel conflicted is strange territory considering the story can't get to a logical end point and has to keep going on forever.
Seeing everyone's takes on this promo is interesting, because I was very confused and I hated it. The best thing this company has done, out of many great things, is have one guy be an actual, old-school, living the gimmick heel. I don't need his villain origin story, I just need a cocky cowardly heel who cheats and then says he's better than everybody. That's it. Wrestling 101.
Furthermore, by going deeply personal into anti-Semitic bullying, IF he ends up swerving everyone, saying it's bullshit, and cheating, WOW, you've set up some truly horrid shit there. I'd like to think that an AEW crowd wouldn't chant slurs, but they're also about to make a big swing into Texas. There is a whole lot of nuance that has to be worked very. very carefully to tell this story that some of you are suggesting (using his own weaknesses to elicit sympathy from Punk so he'll hesitate to take the kill shot), and considering how ineffective Hollywood has been at this of late, I'm not sure that even two talented talkers and entertainers like Punk and MJF will be able to pull it off.
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10 hours ago, EVA said:
Now let’s talk about the utter cringe that is Penta Oscuro and Abrahantes dressed as a ghoul.
Time for a remix
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3 hours ago, Matt D said:
Nothing on this card jumps out at me. I'm probably most interested in Bunny vs Jade since it's heel vs heel and to see how all of that works. It's definitely pushing Jade out of her comfort zone. Kind of curious if Kingston can play ball with Jericho's corny delivery or if he just loses his shit, but not necessarily curious enough to watch it in real time as opposed to catching the clip later.
I'd rather read Gordi listing me his five most interesting interactions that he spotted in the battle royale than actually watching the thing.
Yeah, this card is pretty weak in terms of things I like. I'll be happy to see The Bunny (settle down JLowetico) nd maybe she can pull an Anna Jay miracle with Jade. I love the tag team scene in AEW but not a battle royale. I think Kingston and Jericho could be a great angle and make Jericho more tolerable, but I'll believe it when I see it. I want to see Pac and Black fight, and I would like to see Pac and King fight, but I hate the corny evil angle and I'm kind of tired of Penta.
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17 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:
Watched Elevation on lunch and don't have anything to add that you guys didn't cover much more articulately (though, I'll happily add I'm also on the 'sign and refine' train with Freya).
Working on OG Dark right now and I just needed to shout Luther's promo out for being 30 seconds of silly, '80s fun. His closing line to Tony was the icing on the cake. Him and Matt Lee would not be out of place whatsoever in front of a green screen with Mean Gene, and I mean that as a compliment. Throw in some Nick Commoroto heavy breathing in the background for good measure.
Luther "the Animal" Steele and Nick "Missing Link" Comoroto
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The Mark Lanegan one hits, because he's not much older than me and there was just no voice like his. I got to see Screaming Trees at least three times back in the day and no matter the size of the venue they ripped and his voice was gut-wrenching.
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18 minutes ago, RIPPA said:
Aaron Rodgers posted a drunken and/or high IG post and now everyone is convinced he is retiring today
3 months ago I would have been crushed, now I don't give a shit.
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1 hour ago, EVA said:
AAA’s US distribution issues have been the result of an ongoing legal dispute (with the producers of Lucha Underground...I think?). Until that’s resolved, I don’t think they’re able to do much to help themselves in North America.
Mexico is North America
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1 hour ago, DEAN said:
Jim Kelly sporting the Gamblers colors back when he had knees.
Ah, so a faithful look. At the time of the USFL, I was a Generals fan (FLUTIE).
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The Houston uni looks like a blend of the Chicago Bears and the Tennessee Titans. Should have gone with the Luv Ya Blue.
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Just now, Stefanie the Human said:
Hangman would probably hang out with Orville Peck.
I was going to say Lil Nas X but your choice is a much better call
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1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:
I'm not a boss of anything, but if I was, somebody doing dumb shit that wasn't making any money and then hitting me up for more money might be a sticking point.
The Brandi-Lambert segment losing a full 25% of the viewing audience (and killing the PVZ debut) immediately before the huge MJF-Punk match that had been built for months cost the Rhodes’ any leverage they had at that point.
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38 minutes ago, (BP) said:
Rosa/Martinez was one of those matches where not a lot (besides the German) looked impactful, but everything looked like it legitimately hurt. Which is pretty much the opposite of what’s supposed to happen in a wrestling match.
The way the announcers were talking about the elbow drop was dancing along the kayfabe line, basically saying “it’s supposed to look like it hurts but doesn’t actually hurt”
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54 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:
This one didn't record for whatever reason so I had to use the Internets to watch it. I don't think I've realized until now that those commercial breaks with PnP are LONG AS FUCK. Like, five minutes or something of your match just evaporating; the Hobbs match seemed the worst. Card was decent, nothing blowaway. I got a big laugh out of Jay White treating Orange like a joke.
Both of this week’s shows were the first time I’ve felt the PiP was a big negative. For me it was most egregious in the White-Trent match, it looked like a lot of significant action took place and the announcers really had to bring everyone up to speed when they came back.
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It’s funny because I want the Cole-Omega feud, but I don’t think Cole is AEW champ level. I’m fine with him getting a TNT title run but he’s not THE guy to me. And since it’s been discussed, at some point I would like to see Danielson with the belt, but not sure of the progression to that point. One thing I do know from the last few months is he will do everything he can to put over whoever beats him, and will make whoever he beats look like great in losing.
AEW - FEB 2022
in ALL ELITE WRESTLING
Posted
As one of the newer AEW fans who is someone who turned off wrestling in the early 2000s (including Impact), I'm getting a little tired of some new NXT/WWE guy coming in every week, being sold as someone who I'm supposed to know, and immediately picking up on/recreating a storyline from their old federation.
The nice thing about Punk and Danielson is that they didn't try and do that, they came in as legends who were looking to be re-inspired and fighting the newer guys they've been hearing about/following. Even with Keith Lee, he came in to the Face of the Revolution and his first feuds look to be with Team Taz. He knows Starks, but that's it.
AEW has a lot of good young talent (and an eye for up-and-coming indie talent) without trying to show Vince and HHH all the guys they misused.