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Does AEW need a new top babyface?


DEAN

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Dave Meltzer brought this up. 

He is more about driving traffic to the product and I was thinking that Bryan Danielson is hot enough to bring eyeballs to the MJF feud.  But if he is thinking longterm, I was trying to put a list in my head- which is like the list Vince McMahon would have to put together if he never got a hold of Hulk Hogan.  The only babyface I could see with a bit of meat still on the bone is Eddie Kingston.  But you got so many young guys, maybe Jack Perry.  I don't know.  It's an interesting question.

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Ricky Starks and Darby Allin are the two guys off the top of my head that they should be building towards for that spot, or at least thinking about. If we're talking about someone who's ready to step into the role of top babyface now, I'd say there probably isn't a real need. Hangman should really be the guy and hopefully they can get him back on track because they really messed up with him.

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29 minutes ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

Ricky Starks and Darby Allin are the two guys off the top of my head that they should be building towards for that spot, or at least thinking about. If we're talking about someone who's ready to step into the role of top babyface now, I'd say there probably isn't a real need. Hangman should really be the guy and hopefully they can get him back on track because they really messed up with him.

Ah, forgot about Darby Allin.  It wouldn't take much to position him.

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28 minutes ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

Ricky Starks and Darby Allin are the two guys off the top of my head that they should be building towards for that spot, or at least thinking about. If we're talking about someone who's ready to step into the role of top babyface now, I'd say there probably isn't a real need. Hangman should really be the guy and hopefully they can get him back on track because they really messed up with him.

I agree that Hangman should be the guy.

I kind of like the idea of Hangman and Mox being the dual babyface Aces. Kind of the two sides of the same coin thing. Both are super-tough and won't back down from a fight, but go about it in different ways.

I'm not his biggest fan, but Omega should be up there, too, but I don't think he works as well as a babyface.

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If you wanted to follow the WWE model, which sounds like what Meltzer is suggesting, you could have Darby take the Zayn route to number one babyface and have Adam Cole take the Kevin Owens route to number two babyface.  Then buy someone to take to the Cody Rhodes 1A babyface.  I don't know how you would do that or if you would want to do that, but that would be one way. 

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I personally don't care for Cole, but I think you're right with him being an option. The dude gets over big wherever he goes. I think between the video game stuff and the comeback from injury, people want to cheer him, too.

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Bryan Danielson. I'd like to think Tony Khan wants to put the AEW World Championship on the best wrestler in the world/of all time before but Danielson's too selfless wanting others on top instead. Just threaten Daisy and promise Bryan more environmental merchandise.

Edited by The Natural
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Face Kenny Omega.

I'm no Adam Cole fan at all but he's one.

Eddie Kingston but he's lost momentum.

Claudio Castagnoli.

Strap the rocket on Darby Allin and Ricky Starks. Just concerned for Allin with the bumps he takes. The bill comes due, always as Baron Mordo said to Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange (2016).

Edited by The Natural
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Yeah, just pay him the money he'd make doing bit parts as a bouncer and shit. He's probably just doing that for a SAG card and the health insurance that comes with it, anyway.

EDIT: If they hadn't screwed it up already, Wardlow would have been perfectly fine in the role. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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I like Adam Cole a lot, but after hearing about how badly he was concussed, I worry about how many years he has left in wrestling and if he should be wrestling at all. It's also concerning that he won't even have his first match back until Revolution.

I'd like a group of top babyfaces though, with Hangman as the absolute top babyface and then a rotation of Starks, Darby, and Cole to rotate in and out. 

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Right now, it's Starks, Hangman, and the Acclaimed that get the biggest babyface reactions week to week. Starks feels like he has a movement behind him that Hayter just received. TK needs to ride that wave and get Starks out of the Jericho booking vortex as quickly as possible.

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1 hour ago, DEAN said:

Dave Meltzer brought this up. 

He is more about driving traffic to the product and I was thinking that Bryan Danielson is hot enough to bring eyeballs to the MJF feud.  But if he is thinking longterm, I was trying to put a list in my head- which is like the list Vince McMahon would have to put together if he never got a hold of Hulk Hogan.  The only babyface I could see with a bit of meat still on the bone is Eddie Kingston.  But you got so many young guys, maybe Jack Perry.  I don't know.  It's an interesting question.

If the top of the card is heel heavy, as it is right now... you end up with heels trying to out-heel each other, which leads to the top guy saying stuff like "underage drinking, statutory rape, and attempted vehicular manslaughter fucken rock".

Hangman needs to buckshot MJF's head off so hard it lands in the 3rd row. 

Darby Allin could be that guy, but I think -- and this may be a spicy take -- he needs to get away from Sting and move up the card on his own.  

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Dragon and Hanger, obviously. Strap either of them up at any time and nobody is going to complain. No reasonable person, anyway.

You could pretty easily heat Wardlow or Mad King up again. People want to cheer for them.

I cannot think of ANYBODY I'd rather they bring in or push right now over seeing Bryan or Kingston on top.

With a bit more build:

You could turn Fenix full good guy, give him a mouthpiece. 

Keith Lee, when he returns, could EASILY be made into a top guy.

Speaking of which: Either Dax or Cash would work for me, though I wouldn't want to break up the team. They can both go, they can both talk, and they are both naturally likable.

Darby, Orange, Starks ,Jungle Boy, Claudio...

Garcia after he turns on Sammy.

Bowens single run with Caster by his side, rapping him to the ring? 

 

My current top choice: Imagine the potential of a tastefully-handled Mark Bricoe face singles run. 

 

They've got a TON of options.

 

Edited by Gordlow
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6 minutes ago, Gordlow said:

My current top choice: Imagine the potential of a tastefully-handled Mark Bricoe face singles run.

I was thinking Mark Briscoe, too.  It would need to be a really unique way to get him to the top.

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AEW has plenty of top faces.

Mox is the true ace. Not the guy that should beat MJF, but that Cena-like figure who can win any time and whose feuds are always main event level even if the belt isn't involved.

Hangman is basically a younger version of Mox.

Darby is my personal choice to dethrone MJF. He represents everything MJF doesn't, and is an ideal representative of AEW's vision. That said, his long-term viability is a big question mark. He's definitely got a larger scale version of his TNT title runs in him.

Cole, Starks, and Jungle Jack all have promise as top acts too.

Probably a bit further down the road, but there's also HOOK, who they have wisely not overexposed to this point. He could be the ace in the hole that Wardlow was supposed to be.

On that note, Wardlow isn't un-salvageable, but the booking letting him down at the end of the MJF feud and the unnecessary loss to Joe have set him back. Might take a heel run to get him back on track, though.

1 hour ago, Gordlow said:

My current top choice: Imagine the potential of a tastefully-handled Mark Bricoe face singles run.

 

Hadn't thought of this, but that's interesting. The biggest problem is with MJF as champ, it has some real Rey/Chavo 06 shameless exploitation potential.

Edited by Go2Sleep
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I don't think it's Darby. I mean I see him winning the world title one day. But to me, I'd say the absolute best case scenario for him is a Mick Foley top guy. You win for a feel good moment, but ultimately you're there to eventually heat up the top heel before he loses to the actual top baby face. That's a great spot and guys would kill for it, so it's no shade on Darby. Bryan Danielson is the same and he's my favorite wrestler. I'd say most of their top babyfaces fit that same mold.

I looked at the roster and I honestly don't see "The Guy." Or more importantly"The Draw".

And maybe that's an antiquated way of thinking. Maybe we don't need a top guy. Maybe we just need good stories that can sell shows, and whoever is in the best story is the "The Guy" until someone else has a better story to tell.

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Of course, I think Meltzer is thinking the WWE method, I could assume AEW could use the NWA method of just having a WILDLY over heel (Ric Flair) and a bunch of over faces chasing him (Dusty, Sting, Steamboat.)  Getting MJF as over as Flair would be a fun trick.

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1 hour ago, Gordlow said:

Dragon and Hanger, obviously. Strap either of them up at any time and nobody is going to complain. No reasonable person, anyway.

I think you actually need to turn one of them heel (or Mox). Who's the #2 heel in AEW? Swerve? Joe? Jarrett?

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