AEW Scouting Report

[WholeFnMachine]

https://twitter.com/huntingforjoy/status/1336506448092819456?s=21

Edited December 14, 2020 by WholeFnMachine

[twiztor]

Joey Janela is such a weird case. he's a guy that i really want to root for, but he doesn't look the part, doesn't wrestle the part, and only sometimes acts the part of his character.  plus he's played no real meaningful role in AEW so far. 

at this point i don't really know what he offers besides taking ridiculous bumps, and he hasn't shown that in what feels like a year.  Sonny Kiss is a channel changer for me, so i couldn't care less about their tag team.

regardless of how this post sounds, i do like Janela. i just wish he/AEW gave me a reason to.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

Joey needs a makeover at this point. Something that completely contradicts himself.

[Goodear]

Oops I skipped Hikaru Shida

Which I guess is appropriate as AEW doesn't put a lot of thought into her either. Wokka Wokka Wokka.

We've all talked about the booking of the AEW women's roster a lot as they are not as well presented particularly well. The other side of that argument is that AEW's women's roster isn't as talented as its competitors and doesn't warrant the same sort of promotion. With the addition of Serena Deeb and Thunder Rosa being around, they should be able to improve on that deficit but they still aren't using either Deeb or Rosa to work programs with Shida who should be the focus of the division. Instead they focus on other people while Shida feuds with Abadon which is a mistake since they did nothing to build Abadaon to that feud. 

Shida herself improved her gear going to the red outfit which is better than her frilly thing she was introduced in. I don't dig her mirror person introduction video and I'm not sure why she needs to be carrying a kendo stick every week as the face champion.

I like Shida's skill set and think her being the ace of the company could work. I think she should swap the falcon arrow in as her number one finish and reduce the running knee to mid match fodder. I think she tends to go to the knee after the match has already turned and the crowd is already past the point where they want the match to be over. The crowd is already blown and Shida has to keep going to get the knee in because it's her finish. This seems like a holdover from puro psychology where they often need to really finish someone down with a lariat after a kick out. But this psychology hasn't really caught hold in this country and doesn't need to be there in AEW. As it stands, it's like a post script instead of a exclamation point on the match and you're not leaving your experience with Shida on a high.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

Not only is the knee a holdover from puro, it’s also a 00’s Noah holdover. More, and more puro groups are going with signature move, and then finisher to end matches. This is coming from the Okada influence. Some American  wrestlers haven’t figured this trend out. Same goes for Shida who’s stuck in her old ways.

Edited December 14, 2020 by LoneWolf&Subs

[Goodear]

John  Silver

Really think they should move John into a face role as I think he's got some breakout potential as a cult (no pun intended) hit. I would market him as a pocket Hercules and emphasis his strength spots so if he can gorilla press someone, he should do so. They shouldn't have people counter those spots until it's been clearly established that he can do them. His singles finish is suitably impressive with the spinning torture rack powerbomb being something that should finish god damn everyone and be saved for that purpose only. Silver's ability to go to a second gear is built for a face and he should be promoted that way. The tag team with Reynolds seems like a dead end to me and I would phase it out as well as his Dark Order membership. I think he's bigger than that in potential and the association does nothing but make him look third or fourth tier.

Silver is a lot like Otis on WWE in that he doesn't look like everyone else and that should be used as anything that makes someone stand out is valuable. Someone so obviously short and so obviously powerful is not something you see everyday. So let's emphasis it and make him a star.

[LoneWolf&Subs]

John Silver’s sample size of success shows how bad of a TV wrestler Joey Janela is. Just looking at Silver you’d think no way this guy could ever get over the way he looks, but he’s proving doubters like me wrong, by getting over with his personality, and in ring skill.

[John from Cincinnati]

4 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

Just looking at Silver you’d think no way this guy could ever get over the way he looks

How so? 

[LoneWolf&Subs]

I thought he’d be another David Young, and Davey Richards. He’s way better than those two. He’s really PAC’s US equivalent.

Edited December 14, 2020 by LoneWolf&Subs

[John from Cincinnati]

34 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

I thought he’d be another David Young, and Davey Richards. He’s way better than those two. He’s really PAC’s US equivalent.

The personality helps, but he has a look that fits his presentation. He's a short strong dude who thinks his muscles make him two feet taller and he poses like it and the look works. I don't know why I'd think a guy who looks like that should struggle to get over. There's a lot of people in this company who do have looks that are impediments to their success, but Silver definitely isn't one. 

[Goodear]

Jon Moxley

Mox is the best booked character on the show as one would hope as being their champion for such a long time. A classic antihero, Jon is a good guy by choice if not inclination. This allows a proper shades of grey character who will do what he must in order to win while still having a code of a sorts. He's internally conflicted by his inclination to go back to his deathmatch roots and do wild violence or to just win matches. Moxley is defined by this choice, does he want to win or does he want a pound of flesh? 

Jon's look is on point as he looks unkept and like he cares less about his outfit and more about getting to the ring to beat someone up. I think the part of the presentation where he wanders through the backstage area is a bit old at this point and they should either explain why he does this or drop it. It fits that's he's an outsider in that he's not part of the 8 factions of AEW but it still doesn't feel as organic as the rest of his presentation. Like what is he doing the whole show before his match starts? 

In ring, I just wished he never threw another forearm for the rest of his life. If anyone was built to throw punches in bunches, it should be Jon Moxley. Him throwing forearms just ain't it chief. I much prefer the sudden double arm DDT to the lifting version. I also don't really like the name Paradigm Shift since Mox the character wouldn't use such a big word. Dirty Deeds was perfect even if it was a WWE name. I'm SO glad he dropped the wacky rebound lariat. His regular clothesline is boss though. He's a character that thrives on simplicity so fancy stuff is for characters like Kenny Omega instead of killers like Moxley.

Honestly, Mox doesn't need the deathmatch stuff at all at this point and I'm glad they've dialed it back. Much like Darby, Jon has to be protected from himself. There's money to be made and if JOn can save those matches for when they matter, they would all be better off.

[Curt McGirt]

Have they even let Janela do a match in his indie wheelhouse, or has he not had a feud that would be worth the gimmicks? If they wanted to heat him up they could use that history to try and give him a jumpstart. 

[Goodear]

Jungle Boy

JB is a project wrestler who should be getting groomed for bigger things further down the pike. Right now he should be in learning mode but man, I don't know that he's getting the lessons he needs to really step up into the big leagues. He should be learning how to build sympathy through selling and working on getting fire on his comebacks. Instead he's learning how to do spot matches and do convoluted spots. That's not his optimal path to being a star. 

Jurassic Express was a good vehicle for Jungle Boy to learn those skills I talked about but then they went ahead and added Marko Stunt and ... I'll get to him. But he drags down the whole big man-little man dynamic by being the even littler man and killing Jungle Boy's role in the team. Also Stunt is about as likable as a wart but again, I'll get back to him. They'd be much better off splitting away from Stunt and just letting Jungle Boy build to hot tags for Luchasaurus and draw heat. 

[Jiji]

Am I the only person who enjoys Jon Moxley's work yet finds his character one dimensional and mostly boring? I do not care about the character but the matches are usually good to pretty great and the promos and angles are almost always fantastic. 

[zendragon]

Going back to Shida's knee (and this kinda ties into the recent JR comments on moves being protected) It bothers me that Shida's finish is a running knee but Kenny does 20 Vtriggers in a match. 

Moxley could use a bit of character development. Him coming out of a side door always feels like Stone Cold John Moxley 

[AxB]

When he started in AEW, he'd enter through the tunnels like everyone else. But then he wrestled Pac and got jumped from behind on the stage during his entrance, so he went to the mystery entrance area gimmick. Which was going fine until CoVid made them run the same building every show.

[NikoBaltimore]

Going back a bit (sorry, busy couple days kept me from responding) but I agree that Janela does need to be recast as a slimy heel manager.  That said I like his team with Sonny.  I see the issue with their chemistry as at times it feels off.  But there's still that something to them that makes me want to root them on.  Plus if he turns heel Sonny would be a good person to turn against as long as they know what they're doing.  Him aiming for revenge against Joey would be a fun angle to see play out.

As for Shida I think COVID ruined some opportunities at mainstream exposure.  With her doing cosplays all the time she could have hit all kinds of conventions.  So if you took a camera and showed her at San Diego and/or New York Comic Con that would have been a neat segment that makes her stand out.  But in lieu of that the Tifa-like outfit works just as well.  I do agree on the issue the finishing stretch in her matches.  Even when facing somebody on Dark more is being done at the end than it really should be.

[Goodear]

Here's a guy no one has opinions about.

Kenny Omega

I'm going to try to keep this civil despite the fact that Omega is one of the most overrated wrestlers of my lifetime. That someone would look at Kenny and say he's the best wrestler in history? They are welcome to think whatever they want but they are wrong.

Kenny has a wealth of physical talent held back by bad habits and a lack of range. Bad habits like his weird wind up to rope running when he turns his back on his opponent and then takes a big skip step before actually running. This wouldn't be a big deal if he didn't do it seven times a match up. His punches are weak sauce fluff which demonstrates a lack of a core competency. The V Trigger and snap dragon are suitably impressive moves if he doesn't use them too often. The One Winged Angel is okay as a finish but it lacks a certain something to warrant the 'no one kicks out of this' booking in a fed with so many dynamic moves. It's really just a variation of the Michinoku driver if you think about it and doesn't look so devastating to be this death move. Again, its okay but it doesn't wow me.

In terms of range, Kenny has only just taken on any character at all with the recent stuff with Callis. The last year, Kenny has been a guy who... is named Kenny Omega. I find his facials to be ridiculous, his promos to be passionless and he wrestles most of his matches the same regardless of the opponent with lots of back and forth and not a lot of anything else. Other than blowing out Sonny Kiss, all the matches from anyone from Allen Angels to Joey Janella to whoever else seem very much the same from Omega's performance perspective. "Has good matches" is not a character and "has good matches while carrying a broom" is not much more of one. I cannot imagine looking at Kenny and thinking he has any sort of aura.

Kenny needed a mouth piece so thank goodness they got him one. He needed a character so thank goodness he now seems to have one. He's just so very limited in that he's good for the matches he does but he's proven unwilling to do anything else.

 

[Goodear]

Kris Statlander

Statlander has obviously been on the shelf for a while so these won't be the freshest of hot takes. Kris has a bad habit of throwing stuff with the express intent to miss. She did this a bunch with her flipping senton where the person taking the move wouldn't have had to move for Kris to hit the canvas. Her tombstone variation is goddamn ridiculously impactful and I'm not sure her fits her demeanor. It just doesn't seem appropriate for the alien gimmick.

Speaking of which, I find the alien gimmick really dumb which could be seen as hypocritical since I love the Abadon gimmick. Abadon thinking she's a monster makes her dangerous. Statlander thinking she's an alien makes her a weirdo. The boop can be cute in the right situation but its not suitable for every match. It also removes her humanity so when she comes back from a serious leg injury, we lose some sympathy since she's well... alien. It's a gimmick with lots of restrictions and not a lot of payoff.

[Hustler of Culture]

Omega's rise to fame as a worker really comes from Meltzer's influence on US fans watching puroresu.  Not that it's entirely a bad thing.  Meltzer played a role in influencing my puroresu watching habits with guys like Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, etc.  But the less experienced WON readers have less time to realize Meltzer's biases when it comes to the wrestling he likes and often times he has gone back and regretted putting over something as great.  I had a lot of respect for Dave's opinion on in-ring work, but he was the same guy that wrote that Sabu was arguably the greatest worker in the world in '95.  He has always been more into the junior style of wrestling and appreciated flips and agility over working the crowd, doing stuff that feels plausible, being careful to not outshine higher levels on the card and basically keeping the fans wanting more for the long run.

 

It's hard for me to say that Omega is the most overrated worker of my generation, but there are people that are nutty enough to claim he's the greatest worker of all time and that gets reinforced by Meltzer's 7-star ratings.  And to Dave's credit,the industry has changed to fans wanting to see more athletic style of wrestling as seen from the results of focus groups.  

 

So in the sense of people saying he's the greatest worker ever, yes he's outrageously overrated.  But he's a really good in-ring performer nonetheless.  The problem with Omega for me is that he's such a great athlete that when he works at a slower pace he's entirely less thrilling to watch.  And that means a lot of good workers who simply cannot keep up with him will not have great matches.  Then the workers that are athletic enough to keep up with his breakneck pace may be lousy workers.  I think it translates into a lot of 3* star matches.  But in today's wrestling climate he's not going to be the main event for long periods of time and his athleticism can take the shine off those that are in the main event.  

 

The V Trigger and Dragon Suplex usage is something that I debate a lot along with the Young Bucks' superkick usage.  I think the V Trigger is a fairly easy move to execute and looks devastating.  But using it so much makes you wonder why it should be protected by other wrestlers on the card.  However, the fans do want to see the V Trigger and want longer matches so the V Trigger usage makes sense.  Hell,it makes more sense than Flair's chops. 

I do think Omega has some lousy footwork, he tends to make 4 steps when he only needs to make 2 steps.  But he seems to manage without screwing himself or his opponent up.

Anyway...as far as most overrated worker...

It's really tough to say.  There are those that think Jerry Lawler was the greatest pure worker of all time.  I think as a pure worker he was great, but I don't know if I'd say hew as the best ever as his shit didn't get over nearly as well outside of Memphis.  HHH gets lauded as one of these all time great workers, but I never saw him carry a guy to a really good match.  I could even make the case for Flair being highly overrated as his finishes usually stunk and there was a lot of bad psychology spots and wrestling the same match quite often.  

 

 

 

HoC

[NikoBaltimore]

I sense that @Jijiwill have a field day with his thoughts on Kenny so I'll defer to him.  But it's hard for me to see Kenny and not think about his New Japan run.  But to focus solely on AEW he seems a lot of times like he's in second gear which is still pretty damn good.  Every so often he'll veer towards third gear and we get matches like his match against Pac or the Revolution match.  But I'm hoping with the title win that we get more of him staying in that next gear and beyond.  And I honestly like his approach when he starts to run.  It might look silly to some but it gives me the impression that he has explosiveness to him that would make things like the V Trigger more impactful.

As for Statlander I adore the alien gimmick a ton.  It is a bit unbelievable when you realize her injury but it doesn't ruin my overall enjoyment with what she does.  Kris was sorely needed this year as I think she's one of the better women not named Deeb or Rosa.  So when she comes back I don't know who will be champ but I can see her forge her path back to a title match and eventual title win.

Edited December 15, 2020 by NikoBaltimore

[Jiji]

Nah, I'm done defending him. It's a waste of time. Either you like him or you don't. He has weaknesses for sure, but I don't think anybody does modern, big match psychology better than Omega and can string big picture character stuff together. Yeah, I wish he were more versatile in shorter, less meaningful matches, for sure. 

[Curt McGirt]

Dunno if this is good or bad, but at least his dragon suplex is incredibly safe. It's almost more of a rollup then a dangerous, high angle suplex. He is certainly no Alexander Otsuka. The only thing is you can tell it's safe when it's supposed to be the exact opposite. 

There is no other complaint I can make that hasn't been make 1000 times and is entirely justified. 

[Hustler of Culture]

Statlander exemplifies what the problem with wrestling has been since the territories were long gone.  Good athlete, but rushed too soon before she's ready to be consistently on TV.  Then the fans remember how lousy she was in the beginning and unless she makes an incredible transformation the fans will always have a hard time buying into her.  The alien gimmick is stupid and AEW should know better than that, but they have a hard time telling their talent 'no.'  

Drop the alien gimmick, figure out a real moveset and what moves you can consistently execute at a high level and use them.  Keep getting matches with those moves and you can start to piece the different ways to use psychology from there.  Establish yourself as a heel or a face and learn to work like one.  This doesn't have to be goofy Memphis heeling or 2000's Vince heeling nor does it have to be a white meat babyface work.  

 

 

 

HoC

[HumanChessgame]

Statlander's gimmick was a lot better done and built up on the indies. It was kinda like how dorky dancing Emma was gradually introduced in NXT so that people could get it over time and come to realize what her schtick was, as opposed to just throwing her out cold when she debuted on the main roster. I agree it's not for everyone, depending on how much you enjoy goofy bullshit in wrestling, but I've always enjoyed her character work.