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MAY 2020 WRESTLING CHAT.


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I'm up for whatever he does and wanna see it because he rules, and I hope homeboy goes where he gets paid the best, but the idea that Drew Gulak needs "more" to be in a fed where guys like Marko Stunt, Joey Janela, Luther, and Jimmy Havoc collect a paycheck? Come on. 

Plus his name is actually Drew Gulak so it wouldn't be as weird as getting used to Dax and Cash.

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3 hours ago, cwoy2j said:

A good wrestling name needs a combo of alliteration, hard consonant sounds and describing the character. Maybe not all 3 but you need at least one of those. Something like Ravishing Rick Rude is awesome. It sounds cool, rolls off the tongue and tells you exactly what you need to know about the guy. Ric Flair as well. It's his real name (spelling changed) but it's got the hard "c" and Flair is a word that means stylishness. 

Of course these are just guidelines, not absolute keys to success. Just ask (2/3) Michael McGillicutty. 

Val Venis is close to a 2/3, right? Venis rhymes with penis and is spelled that way to keep it on your mind. Which somewhat describes his character because Sean is a dick.

Edited by West Newbury Bad Boy
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4 hours ago, cwoy2j said:

A good wrestling name needs a combo of alliteration, hard consonant sounds and describing the character. Maybe not all 3 but you need at least one of those.

Paul E. Dangerously

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3 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

I don’t think Gulak fits in at all right now. He’s one of those guys who would benefit from an indie, and Japan run by being booked strong. Then when the time is right, bring him in as top contender, but right now he’s just a scrub from the WWE roster. That’s what has hurt Brodie Lee. He didn’t go back to the indies, and reinvent himself, he just showed up to AEW TV, and now he’s a top star again. I can buy FTR coming in, and being instant Tag contenders because of reputation, but somebody like Gulak, and Lee just don’t have that same Kayfabe cred.

Brodie Lee's early AEW run has been consistently the most interesting part of the current Dynamite.  Admittedly I never saw him in WWE, so I have nothing to compare to, but I don't think he's suffered the jump at all.  He undoubetedly suffered from not being able to debut in his hometown with a hot crowd, but has made the best of his early run with excellent results.

I haven't seen Gulak more than a few highlights, but looks like he's loaded with in ring talent.  Sounds like his run with Danielson has been beneficial and would make him a hot jump/surprise. 

I think historically what you're saying is true of most of these guys used as nothing midcarders, or cannon fodder, but the AEW crowd is ready to embrace misused talent.  From Cody on down, there seems to be a clear theme that WWE doesn't recognize talent, and they misuse everybody, now check out this guy (with his creative freedom) for more proof.  This has panned out with Cody, Moxley, Jericho, etc.  Spears not so much.  Obviously Mox and Jericho were stars prior, but still badly mishandled.  I mean ppl were looking for every reason (JR like) to bury Jericho in the early part of the run.  Then he reminded everyone what a great character he can be.  And what an exceptional promo he can cut without being overly formatted.          

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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I don't think Harper in the WWE was ever "buried" or "jobbed out".  The Wyatts, his face turn, and Bludgeon Brothers run were hindered by injuries to him and Rowan for the most part, no? He was almost always portrayed as a threat.

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16 minutes ago, Infinit said:

I don't think Harper in the WWE was ever "buried" or "jobbed out".  The Wyatts, his face turn, and Bludgeon Brothers run were hindered by injuries to him and Rowan for the most part, no? He was almost always portrayed as a threat.

Even when he came back as Rowan's back-up after asking for his release, he was pushed as a threat.  WWE never buried him.

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28 minutes ago, Infinit said:

I don't think Harper in the WWE was ever "buried" or "jobbed out".  The Wyatts, his face turn, and Bludgeon Brothers run were hindered by injuries to him and Rowan for the most part, no? He was almost always portrayed as a threat.

I'm not sure where you read 'buried' or 'jobbed out' for the quote there.  It's more a question, whether you are pushed or with most of the releases not, if some of these guys, Drew Gulak and Brodie Lee in particular, needed or need time on the Indies or abroad to establish themselves away from their WWE personas before making a potential big debut in AEW.     

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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I only read about Lee/Harper before I saw him in action a few years ago against Randy Orton. Luke Harper looked like a genuine threat in that match (I think it must have been around that Orton/Wyatt WrestleMania.) I liked him ever since, but I think his AEW gear is kind of lame. His old Wyatt gear wouldn't click with his current gimmick but I thought it was a good look. 

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1 hour ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I'm not sure where you read 'buried' or 'jobbed out' for the quote there.  It's more a question, whether you are pushed or with most of the releases not, if some of these guys, Drew Gulak and Brodie Lee in particular, needed or need time on the Indies or abroad to establish themselves away from their WWE personas before making a potential big debut in AEW.     

Exactly, I’m not saying they were buried, I’m saying they weren’t booked as a bigger deal. They were always supporting players. At least The Revival were considered stars at one point when they were arguably the best tag team in the company while working in NXT. There is something tangible to work with there, and they’ve made waves just by always being rumored to ask for their release from the WWE since AEW’s birth. Brodie never had that extended period of being a flag bearer for a division. 

But I get what was said about them having jobbers on their roster. I just feel Gulak probably has more room to be a bigger deal somewhere else. But best case scenario for Gulak in AEW would be to give Hangman page another singles dance partner to build him up for the belt down the line when the eventual Omega feud ends. If he makes himself stand out during that then find something else for him to do with the TNT Belt.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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People understand that Gulak has spent the past few months being paired with and getting constantly put over as a great talent by a guy the entire AEW audience views as a pro wrestling god right?

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That’s nice but that doesn’t create much of a persona after he leaves. He needs to create a bigger splash after this departure to justify people wanting to pay top dollar to sign him. Maybe he doesn’t need to prove himself on the Indies, or Japan. Maybe he can do what Moxley, ADR(back when he was first released), and FTR did. Create a sense of mistake made on the part of the company he once worked for. Create videos, and book yourself on podcasts. Make yourself feel like something special so when you show up to AEW you feel like you are justified a bigger spotlight. If he’s just coming in as Drew “I had a bunch of TV matches with the best wrestler in world” Gulak, then he’s going to get lost in the shuffle fast.

I’m just saying for his benefit, since his hangup with his former employer is that they weren’t willing to give him a raise. Now they would’ve probably given him a raise a year ago, but now due to the lack of competition fighting for talent, that means he’s being offered what the company would’ve offered him if AEW didn’t exist, and that’s the base salary. Because his stock as a talent is very low in their eyes. So now it’s his job to build his stock up, and make them willing to pay somebody like him to stay,  because he’ll never get this opportunity again just being in the WWE.

 

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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I find your protectiveness of AEW's roster very strange. I can't imagine looking at that team and thinking you've got most of your top and middle tier nailed down for the foreseeable future. 

We're talking about a guy who's found amusing shtick to stand out in a lot of under-the-radar roles on WWE's bloated roster. I don't see him being lost in the shuffle wherever he ends up. That he's been out of the company a whole day and hasn't hit up any of the usual podcasts doesn't exactly sour me on his prospects. 

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But I don’t think he has much to stand out. He had that weird cheesy political thing with 205 live that went nowhere. Nothing about him screams “Can’t miss talent” right now, and doesn’t have a natural ready-made feud for him. The closest I can think is him having beef with Cody over Pizza at an Evolve, and Cody saying he sucks.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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2 minutes ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

I find your protectiveness of AEW's roster very strange. I can't imagine looking at that team and thinking you've got most of your top and middle tier nailed down for the foreseeable future. 

We're talking about a guy who's found amusing shtick to stand out in a lot of under-the-radar roles on WWE's bloated roster. I don't see him being lost in the shuffle wherever he ends up. That he's been out of the company a whole day and hasn't hit up any of the usual podcasts doesn't exactly sour me on his prospects. 

And here's a personal anecdote: I have met Gulak at indy shows and I am telling you he is one of the funniest people you will ever meet. One time he was telling me this story about how Mr Topanga (his huge bodyguard who was part of his entourage in CZW) was the inspiration for the movie Lilo and Stitch and it was just about the most hilarious thing ever.

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22 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

Nothing about him screams “Can’t miss talent” right now

This is what I'm talking about. It's a ridiculous standard to apply to AEW. I know they're working with a skeleton roster right now because of the pandemic, but 50 year old Christopher Daniels main evented their last TV show. A few weeks ago it was 50 year old Dustin Rhodes. Jake Hager was recently in a world title match that I'm told went on for six days. This company doesn't have room for a 33 year old potential ace-level worker who's made versatile by his decent sense of cheeky/goofy humour? I don't think one needs to be "can't miss" to qualify for a spot on this team.

The "natural ready-made feud" thing is weird too. That standard is never applied to anyone coming into a fed. They're creative. If they want him, they'll think of something. I'll spare you my own personal fantasy booking because who cares?

And maybe Cody doesn't like Drew for whatever reason and that keeps him off their radar. Entirely possible. But the bar of entry you're setting for this company strikes me as being unreasonable. 

Edited by West Newbury Bad Boy
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The wrestling names thing brought a memory from the 90s flooding back. There was a flyer for an ECW show in the window of our local video store. My brother and I asked our mom if we could go. She studied the card. 

”Justin Credible? Hahaha!”

”So can we go?”

”No.” 

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5 minutes ago, Godfrey said:

Can we at least agree that Drew Gulak to AEW would be better than Zack Ryder?

I don't disagree with you, but to play devil's advocate, I think they could do a lot worse than signing a guy like Ryder and having him work with young guys on Dark or something. If the second TNT show is still happening after the pandemic ends, that's another good spot. He and Hawkins could be another set of player-coaches doing what QT and Dustin are currently. I'm not saying do the TNA thing and give him the world title, but if they make Hawkins/Ryder the new WCW SN-era Enos/Bloom, what the hell why not?

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I cannot believe you just insulted the Destruction Crew like that.

If Gulak ends up in AEW, pair him with the Revolt. Insult spot monkey wrestling, and boom. Very over heels.

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58 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

But I don’t think he has much to stand out. He had that weird cheesy political thing with 205 live that went nowhere.

I feel like this is more a criticism of the booking than Gulak?  He got the goofy PowerPoint/No Fly Zone gimmick over.  Then got himself over again as a serious grappler.  Then got put back in the NFZ gimmick and made it work again.  Then, improbably, got himself over as a babyface shooter.

I see a guy who has done nothing but succeed in whatever has been given to him.  But he doesn’t get to decide how it all pays off in the end (or not).

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