AEW - APRIL 2024

[Elsalvajeloco]

21 minutes ago, SovietShooter said:

When I got into the business in 1998ish, I knew who Meltzer was, and although the major companies were not booking based on his opinion, the WO and the Torch were widely read by the boys, and to some degree those opinions influenced things. 

Look at it this way, if over the years it became clear Meltzer liked a certain style, and Dave heaps a ton of praise on a guy like Will Ospreay, then it is easy to convince yourself, as a worker, to work more like Ospreay.  Even if that is done subconsciously. 

So if everyone eventually is working like Ospreay, and those wrestlers are getting booked by the major promotions, then to some extent Meltzer influenced that booking.

I agree with some of that to a certain extent, but everyone ain't working like Ospreay. It wouldn't be possible just because Ospreay, no matter where you fall on is he overrated or not, can do shit only other freaks of nature like Ricochet, PAC, etc. can do. To quote Patrice O'Neal talking about the NBA Slam Dunk contest in 2010ish or so, "There only but so much centrifugal force for a ***** to spin in the air."

When Amazing Red showed up in ROH and TNA, I am pretty sure he influenced a whole bunch of people. Same as Jody Fleisch and others. However, only so many guys could do that. There were just a bunch of pretenders. However, there were a bunch of people pretending to be the next Stone Cold or the next Rock or this guy or that guy. There was a balance. That balance still exists, and nothing is going to upset that. Only but so many men and female are extremely athletic. There are but so many women as absurdly diesel strong as Chihiro Hashimoto or Rhea Ripley or Bianca Belair or Jordynne Grace. That's the beauty of pro wrestling. Your strengths are your strengths. Your weaknesses are your weaknesses. You have to work towards the former. A guy like Ospreay got that notoriety before Meltzer even knew who he was or heaped effusive praise on him. At the same time, how many folks have torn down Ospreay for his style? Like no one is stopping people from criticizing him. Early Ospreay as a Jr. Heavyweight got on my fucking nerves. At some point, I took the good with the bad. However, I look at his praise and criticism the exact same way. They are opinions.

[odessasteps]

Although the less exposure Shoemaker gets the better. You’d have thought could have found a better wrestling regular for the BS Report and subsequent projects. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Shoemaker is a case of right place, right time.  When I hear him talk about wrestling I would say to myself "there's a handful of guys on DVDVR who have better voices and are way more knowledgeable than this dude..."  but it is what it is...   I laugh when Simmons brings him on to talk history because he gets so many things wrong or just tries to bullshit his way through. 

[odessasteps]

In that way, he fits right in with Simmons, whose own knowledge base on certain things I always found flimsy. 

IIRC, Shoemaker worked on the Grantland web site, which was his foot in the door with Simmons. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

1 minute ago, odessasteps said:

In that way, he fits right in with Simmons, whose own knowledge base on certain things I always found flimsy. 

IIRC, Shoemaker worked on the Grantland web site, which was his foot in the door with Simmons. 

Flimsy, you say? No....

I love when Bill Simmons got into boxing for a bit about ten years ago and started being really excited about Triple G. Uh Bill, you do know Triple G is already 33 and had like hundreds of amateur fights going back to when he was 11. So in boxing years, Golovkin was like a ripe 39 years old. So when Golovkin finally looked his age and lost to Canelo, he stopped talking boxing.

He is a casual fan's casual fan.

[The Natural]

8 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Sad for everyone but Shannon Moore, that poor guy's been sitting next to the phone flipping through the book of DILLIGAF for 15 years waiting for this

Still remember CM Punk to Shannon Moore on ECW: "You're a poser."

[Niners Fan in CT]

Bill Simmons knows basketball pretty well I'd say and seems to have a pretty good knowledge of....movies?   Probably nothing on Sean Fennessey, though.   That's all I got.  It hurts to listen to him talk about anything else. 

[Kevin Wilson]

I can understand why TK offered Matt Hardy a contract as he still seems to dream about "one last run" for the Hardys, but I hope now that Matt declined it that TK takes it back and moves on to someone else. I think Hardy would work ok in a producer/backstage role but if he still thinks he has value as a wrestler I'd just let him go and see what he can find. With AEW's stacked roster I just don't think he has anything to offer in-ring anymore.

Since Matt turned it down, I'm thinking it was probably a pay decrease, or he told Matt he wouldn't be a featured wrestler.

[Cobra Commander]

10 hours ago, Godfrey said:

This made me think of Sam Elliot in Road House and I can get behind that

just listened to "Faster Horses" and realized I might have been describing Dustin Rhodes like the cowboy giving advice in that song

[HumanChessgame]

I'm surprised Matt left as I was fully expecting one last Hardys/E&C match.

[odessasteps]

32 minutes ago, HumanChessgame said:

I'm surprised Matt left as I was fully expecting one last Hardys/E&C match.

Prob best for everyone’s long term health. 

[zendragon]

On 4/7/2024 at 1:19 AM, Cobra Commander said:

Tony going “what would mid-80s Bill Watts do” with the Punk footage from Wembley?

Needs JR to say “punk left AEW for easier competition “

[odessasteps]

12 minutes ago, zendragon said:

Needs JR to say “punk left AEW for easier competition “

“Up North” 

[Elsalvajeloco]

That is the Mid South thing. Bill Watts is telling you that as you're watching a Private Terry Daniels match. Daniels taking off his uniform would take longer than his matches.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 hour ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

That is the Mid South thing. Bill Watts is telling you that as you're watching a Private Terry Daniels match. Daniels taking off his uniform would take longer than his matches.

It's a tossup as to who took longer to take off their entrance attire, Terry Daniels or Mark Ragin.

[Curt McGirt]

I want another Hardy Compound match first. VANGAURD ONE~!

[Craig H]

Ok, I think my friend and I workshopped a way to make showing the ball In footage work.

Like some folks here said, have the Bucks do commentary over the footage. Go one step further though. Have the Bucks talk about how they’ve seen a lot of stuff going on that’s against the rules and they’re really going to start laying the hammer down. Just so everyone can be on the same page, they’re going to show a mandatory workplace safety video for what not to do. Then they show the footage and do commentary over it. Once it’s done, Nick, the hothead of the group, talks about how disgusted he is to watch to coworkers endangering the lives of themselves and others, I mean, this is a wrestling company, who does that?!?! And Nick says he is forced to fine Phil Brooks and Jack Perry one million dollars each.

Matt then is like, uh, we already fired one of them and the other one we exiled to Japan…

I think that would be funny and clever enough to make showing the footage work in a way to prove Punk is full of shit while still making their characters look like dicks. Hell, work in a shot at FTR too.

[Elsalvajeloco]

15 minutes ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

It's a tossup as to who took longer to take off their entrance attire, Terry Daniels or Mark Ragin.

Mark Ragin: Another wrestler rendered absolutely useless by the WWE Network/Peacock.

If you want to talk about the influence of Thriller on sports/entertainment, there was also a guy by the name of Alvin "Too Sweet" Hayes in boxing around the time Ragin was in wrestling. It was the exact same bit except Hayes would do the whole routine and take like six minutes. He was also 6'1" fighting at 135 pounds (lightweight in boxing), which was amazing back then. Just like Ragin though, his career didn't last past being a huge Michael Jackson fan. There is a clip he is most infamous for where he fights on the undercard of Tommy Hearns vs. Roberto Duran, does the whole Michael Jackson bit in a pink Zorro mask for some reason, and then gets absolutely flambéed by longtime contender Jimmy Paul. Probably one of the most embarrassing (and brutal) moments in boxing history.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

44 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Mark Ragin: Another wrestler rendered absolutely useless by the WWE Network/Peacock.

If you want to talk about the influence of Thriller on sports/entertainment, there was also a guy by the name of Alvin "Too Sweet" Hayes in boxing around the time Ragin was in wrestling. It was the exact same bit except Hayes would do the whole routine and take like six minutes. He was also 6'1" fighting at 135 pounds (lightweight in boxing), which was amazing back then. Just like Ragin though, his career didn't last past being a huge Michael Jackson fan. There is a clip he is most infamous for where he fights on the undercard of Tommy Hearns vs. Roberto Duran, does the whole Michael Jackson bit in a pink Zorro mask for some reason, and then gets absolutely flambéed by longtime contender Jimmy Paul. Probably one of the most embarrassing (and brutal) moments in boxing history.

That said, Mid-South did give up on Mark Ragin awfully fast, so it's not like they had a bunch of edits to make. I still think it's funny how in his debut they rung the bell on him to start the match before he had a chance to take off his entrance attire or before he could start doing his Billie Jean dance.

Also, that Alvin Hayes thing sounds amazing. We need more pink Zorro masks.

[Curt McGirt]

Workplace safety video. Yes. Ultimate troll idea. Show proper choking methods, how to use glass.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

54 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Mark Ragin: Another wrestler rendered absolutely useless by the WWE Network/Peacock.

If you want to talk about the influence of Thriller on sports/entertainment, there was also a guy by the name of Alvin "Too Sweet" Hayes in boxing around the time Ragin was in wrestling. It was the exact same bit except Hayes would do the whole routine and take like six minutes. He was also 6'1" fighting at 135 pounds (lightweight in boxing), which was amazing back then. Just like Ragin though, his career didn't last past being a huge Michael Jackson fan. There is a clip he is most infamous for where he fights on the undercard of Tommy Hearns vs. Roberto Duran, does the whole Michael Jackson bit in a pink Zorro mask for some reason, and then gets absolutely flambéed by longtime contender Jimmy Paul. Probably one of the most embarrassing (and brutal) moments in boxing history.

I just found that clip and it's as good as advertised. Also one of the announcers makes a WoS reference during his entrance. Thanks for mentioning this. Hayes's arms are so lanky that they just move weird when he does his little spins and stuff. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

35 minutes ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

That said, Mid-South did give up on Mark Ragin awfully fast, so it's not like they had a bunch of edits to make. I still think it's funny how in his debut they rung the bell on him to start the match before he had a chance to take off his entrance attire or before he could start doing his Billie Jean dance.

Also, that Alvin Hayes thing sounds amazing. We need more pink Zorro masks.

Funny thing is...Watts for some reason (hyping up his kids?) months later after Ragin disappears (goes to World Class IIRC) did a whole entire segment putting over his sons' friend being this great break dancer. So it's clear he knows pop culture enough that break dancing is a big thing now. There is a whole five minute music video dedicated to Micah (?), Erik, and their black friend break dancing in some workout room. It's so incredibly wacky and pandering to the younger generation.

 

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

37 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

Funny thing is...Watts for some reason (hyping up his kids?) months later after Ragin disappears (goes to World Class IIRC) did a whole entire segment putting over his sons' friend being this great break dancer. So it's clear he knows pop culture enough that break dancing is a big thing now. There is a whole five minute music video dedicated to Micah (?), Erik, and their black friend break dancing in some workout room. It's so incredibly wacky and pandering to the younger generation.

 

Oh gosh, I remember this video, but I can't remember if it was to hype up the debut of Brickhouse Brown (who had a breakdancing gimmick at the time) or not.

Either way, it was WEIRD.

[Elsalvajeloco]

I think it's after Brickhouse cause this is when Butch Reed is babyface again. He goes to talk to the kids at a school or something. It's basically his turn to be the new JYD. On that same episode is that video.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

1 minute ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I think it's after Brickhouse cause this is when Butch Reed is babyface again. He goes to talk to the kids at a school or something. It's basically his turn to be the new JYD. On that same episode is that video.

I'll defer to you, that whole year sort of blends together for me. Though it was fascinating that Butch Reed was sharing nicknames with multiple people at that era, because he was Hacksaw Reed and he was also commonly called a brickhouse, and there's Hacksaw Duggan and Brickhouse Brown on the same show.

Also, can we talk about how Butch Reed was great? Because he was great.