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AEW Double or Nothing - 5/25/2019


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I can’t see this show as anything other than a solid success and it definitely exceeded my expectations for production / major league feel. I was satisfied by the end of Jericho’s in-ring promo...and then Moxley shows up unannounced (literally - no music or titantron started playing illogically, he just burst out of the crowd) and its a huge hook for what’s to come next.

That was a theme for the night - solid, sometimes predictable booking (e.g. Battle Royale) that made sense and set the stage for the next chapter. Dustin/Cody was another example, with the heartfelt promo that was truly emotional without being melodramatic.

I can’t remember the last time I watched a non TakeOver PPV live end-to-end without getting distracted or bored. Like someone else mentioned, the variety was probably the reason for that.

The announcing / production slip ups are forgivable at this stage, but will be less so 8 weeks into the TNT show. They have a solid foundation, and Excalibur was a revelation having not watched any PWG. Wade Keller made a good point in his Roundtable discussion that Excalibur not only made the save when JR/Marvez gave a factual error or missed an important story beat, but did so in the smoothest, most respectable and professional way so as not to embarrass or undermine his co-announcers which is so refreshing after the WWE 3 man booth’s usual antics.

No idea how/if the weekly show will be shown in Australia, but will definitely check it out if I can.

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The one thing I found odd was that Marvez kept taking over the play by play duties while Ross, the most famous PTP guy in wrestling, slipped into the background.

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9 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

The one thing I found odd was that Marvez kept taking over the play by play duties while Ross, the most famous PTP guy in wrestling, slipped into the background.

I was talking with my buddies after the show was over and I felt that maybe JR would be best suited to call the big matches that are heavy on story and let someone else call the spot fests for lack of a better term.  He seems to get lost on flips and dives but he can still be very good on capturing emotion and moments. 

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I think JR would be best served in a Mike Tenay on Nitro type of role. Let him explain the background of the wrestlers, the type of training they do, that sort of thing. 

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1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

The only problem with that is he'd have to be up to date on things. 

Yeah but that's something they could have pre-written for him, then they just need to tell him WHEN to throw that info out there. 

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6 hours ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

Why?

Republicans buy sneakers too?

Politics is polarised pretty badly, and wrestling doesn't have to be political. If you're trying to sell something, alienating half your potential customers isn't maximising profits. Conservative straight white guys who oppose diversity are still included within diversity, because it's diverse.

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I watched this yesterday and let it percolate for a while.

Firstly, I'll get the negatives out they way.  For a company looking to cause a 'pardigm shift', the arena set up looked a lot like a WWE event, the ring colour, barricades had that WWE feel.  Then Brandi interjects in the womens match in a style which reminded me WAY to much of Stephanie.  Finally, the kept cutting to the crowd reaction shot, every, single, time.  I dont know about anyone else but 2 of things I dislike the most about WWE are Stephanie's on screen persona and the forced crowd reaction shots.  

The positiives were EVERYTHING else.  A ton of new characters on a mainstream show, great matches, great storytelling, JR actually sounding like he was enjoying himself, especially during the Bucks / Lucha Brothers match.  The Joshi match was incredible, I thought Kylie Rae was an absolute star in the womens 4-way.

The Battle Royale was a lot of fun, I really hope they keep Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus as a pair following last weeks BTE and their interactions in the Battle Royale.  I've never seen much of Luchasaurus but the guy has a fantastic look and his kicks looked incredible.  Michael Nakazawa could be their Norman Smilley, loved his stuff with the Baby Oil.

MJF is the best heel in wrestling.  It seems the bigger the stage he is on the better he gets, I mean he was already great in CZW years ago but has improved leaps and bounds as he has made his way through the Indies, MLW and now AEW.  He's incredible.

Loved this show and cant wait for the next one, I am also (for once) excited to see Raw tonight to see what their response, if any, is.  Because if they stick to their guns and put out the same old stuff then the live audience could be brutal with them.

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Guest The Magnificent 7
37 minutes ago, AxB said:

Republicans buy sneakers too?

Politics is polarised pretty badly, and wrestling doesn't have to be political. If you're trying to sell something, alienating half your potential customers isn't maximising profits. Conservative straight white guys who oppose diversity are still included within diversity, because it's diverse.

Diversity is not an issue with me. Nor is someone’s personal opinion on a political issue.

My family would spend quite a bit at Dick’s sporting goods as I play multiple sports still in adult leagues and my 3 children play multiple sports year. It’s the only big sporting goods physical store in town. 

When they announced they would stop selling certain firearms and high capacity magazines (normal capacity in the real world) I was fine with it too as I never got anything from there gun related. And selling whatever you want to sell is their choice.

But when they as a company ,which we spent a good amount of money on to support, went out of their way to not only call for but hire lobbyists to promote gun control measures and actively campaign to take my rights away well, nah son. Not one more dime. 

Haven’t stepped foot in their stores since then and never will. 

Edited by The Magnificent 7
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1) Not Tony Khan

2) Zero dollars

They look wonderful but they're less expensive than anyone that doesn't have a background in production thinks.  Moxley is probably doing them himself (as in paying for them).  He knows the right people with the right equipment.

If AEW was doing them they wouldn't look this good (camera and lighting wise) and you'd see little production hiccups.   And they wouldn't be doing one for New Japan anyway.  

Edited by Tromatagon
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8 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I was talking with my buddies after the show was over and I felt that maybe JR would be best suited to call the big matches that are heavy on story and let someone else call the spot fests for lack of a better term.  He seems to get lost on flips and dives but he can still be very good on capturing emotion and moments. 

While JR may have gotten lost at times, at least he sounded into the action. I would have hated if he went into this shitting on what he didn't like or sounding completely disinterested. I guess he probably wouldn't have done that out of respect for the Rhodes family.

I know he metioned Lawler's contract ending soon. I hope AEW stays the fuck away from his creepy, outdated schtick.

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
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44 minutes ago, ChesterCopperpot said:

 

Quoting my own post because dammit - this promo is always worth watching

 

That will never not make my eyes well up. One of my favorite promos ever.

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I'm just going to say one thing on the whole political debate here.   Wrestling has always been political.  Bill Watts was one of the most political promoters ever- half of his angles felt like xenophobia.  Folks around here who were old enough lapped it up when Gary Hart called Sting a gaijin (horribly mispronounced).    I suspect the folks uncomfortable are those that are being forced a bit out of their comfort zone.

 

The core audience of AEW is millenials.  They want a product that represents their values.  It's not the WWE audience.

 

Kylie vs Yuka might be too much of a good thing.  It would be like PreCure adapted into pro wrestling.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by alstein
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3 hours ago, Tromatagon said:

If AEW was doing them they wouldn't look this good (camera and lighting wise) and you'd see little production hiccups.   And they wouldn't be doing one for New Japan anyway.  

The AEW videos on Road to Double or Nothing have looked great.  

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Yeah but not as good as the Ambrose videos.  If they had that that good of a cinematographer on board, they'd look like that too, and they don't.

The video packages look super good because they're edited well and shot competently.  The Moxley videos are edited well and shot in a way that far exceeds expectations.  They're getting the great Lucha Underground vignette cinematography with better lighting.

Edited by Tromatagon
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They should either do that or hire Skip Chaisson away from his El Rey work.  He's the reason LU's stuff was so great but he's basically Rodriguez' right hand man as far as the network is concerned so it'd probably take a lot.

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