AEW - MAY 2021

[tbarrie]

1 hour ago, Wyld Samurai said:

So it's Bret vs 1-2-3 Kid??

Stylistically, yeah, but booking-wise it's quite different. Kid was a clear underdog while Riho is a former world champion who beat Deeb the last time they faced.

56 minutes ago, Goodear said:

The tournament match was pretty good so this will likely to be more of the same. It's a shame Riho went MIA again after the tournament or we could have a secondary angle going on in the women's division right now.

I'd cite the "managers courting Jade Cargill" angle, but honestly, that's clearly a tertiary angle even in the absence of a secondary angle above it.

[John from Cincinnati]

Quote

I don’t know what the criteria is for these things. Anybody that can debate me and tell me that Randy Orton is not one of the best in the world will have a hard time winning that argument. Anybody can debate me and say, ‘Well, I think Kenny Omega is.’ Well, you make a good point. I don’t have any problem with that. Kenny Omega is the AEW Champion. He’s a hell of a hand. There’s no doubt about it, but golly. People are so sensitive right now, but that’s the whole tone and tenor of social media.

Careful Jim. Some of your coworkers will break a folding chair over your head for talk like that.

But don't worry too much. It'll be gimmicked. 

[Log]

RE: Mauro

I like the idea of Mauro.  I like the idea of an announcer who is hip to current trends so he doesn't sound like a dinosaur.  I like (love!) the idea of an announcer who is passionate about what they are calling.  

I do not care for Mauro in practice.  He doesn't let anything breathe.  Sometimes the best thing an announcer can do is to be quiet and let a moment speak for itself.  He also calls like he's in a one-man booth.  In addition to stepping all over his colleagues, he acts like they're not even there a lot of the time.    Also, there's the shoehorning in overly-long pop culture references.  Like I said, it's cool that he's up on things, but he's not good at working those references in naturally.

I've heard great things about his boxing/MMA announcing.  Maybe he'd be better in an environment like AEW.  I'd be all for seeing him get a shot if he can bring that instead of what he was bringing in WWE.

RE: JR

My friends and I have a system for judging music that asks if it passes the silence test.  As in, would you rather listen to nothing than that music?  At this point, I'd rather have silence than JR.

[Craig H]

That's a fair point about Mauro. I'm not going to lie and say that at times he really, really needed to dial it back and be reined in because he was just stepping all over Beth and Nigel.

So I mean if you could find a way to rein him in a bit and get him to not step all over Excalibur and Tony without triggering any episodes then I wouldn't mind seeing Mauro step in for JR at some point. 

Taz is also an option, but I like him more on Dark where he's allowed to fuck around and be a goof.

[Goodear]

My main issue with Mauro is that he starts at a 10 and has no where to go when there is a need to do so. So it all becomes noise after a while.

[Craig H]

14 minutes ago, Goodear said:

My main issue with Mauro is that he starts at a 10 and has no where to go when there is a need to do so. So it all becomes noise after a while.

Yeah, that's also fair.

[zendragon]

3 hours ago, Goodear said:

My main issue with Mauro is that he starts at a 10 and has no where to go when there is a need to do so. So it all becomes noise after a while.

I was literally going to post this. It's the problem I've had with him calling anything.

 

I'd be curious if JR would be better if AEW Rampage was just him and TAZ (they always had good chemistry in WWE) or perhaps Jericho, Callis or Eddie Kingston as co-hosts

[Elsalvajeloco]

I'm guessing Mauro is more tolerable as a MMA and boxing commentator because he's not super produced. You still get the pop culture references every other minute, but he still calls the action as a serious PBP announcer. Hell, that's probably the reason Bellator got rid of Mike Goldberg and kept him on board other than he was already working with Showtime. It also helps that he's working with Al Bernstein and Al Bernstein has been calling boxing FOREVER. Mauro can still go wild, but Al is gonna keep him honest for the most part. 

[Coletti]

Mauro isn't the answer. Abolishing the ridiculous three-person booth is and will always be the answer.

[mystman]

I'm giving JR a temporary pass for his "Why would anyone want to converse with Gallows" line from a couple of weeks ago. Gave me a nice chuckle.

I think the AEW booth desperately needs a permanent heel announcer. The self righteous ranting from all three grates on me sometimes, especially when it involves Cody. They need someone who will call them out on their bullshit.

[TheVileOne]

9 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I know J.R. can be rough sometimes, but remember how abysmal the desk was with Marvez on the early shows? At least things have progressed since then. And count me in on the Mauro love. 

Those were bad because it sounded like JR was seething and legit wanted to strangle Marvez. So yeah, it's been an improvement since then.

[Web Conn]

Is Golden Boy still employed by AEW? Maybe he should be a commentator on Rampage. I say Excalibur Golden Boy and Taz.

[DreamBroken]

Jericho announced that Eric Bischoff will be on Dynamite this week, hosting a "Celebration of the Inner Circle"

[For Great Justice]

Excalibur/Taz is the best booth in the business by a country mile but I get that it doesn’t work for the A show

[Log]

Why can’t we just have an interview segment with the Inner Circle? Why is it always a parlay or a debate or a celebration or whatever? I’m guessing that’s a Jericho thing. 

[hammerva]

Those are two phrases I was hoping I would never see in wrestling:  "workshopped" and "focus group-tested"  

Afraid to find the people in that focus group

 

[MoeCristyV.1.6]

The same focus group who greenlighted that tattoo I think. 

Edited May 27, 2021 by MoeCristyV.1.6

[AxB]

That's a different arena set-up for tomorrow's show.

[Sex Machine Gun]

Am I missing something? That looks like the seating for a different venue on a different date.

[Infinit]

34 minutes ago, Sex Machine Gun said:

Am I missing something? That looks like the seating for a different venue on a different date.

You are correct lol

[The Natural]

2 hours ago, hammerva said:

Those are two phrases I was hoping I would never see in wrestling:  "workshopped" and "focus group-tested"  

Afraid to find the people in that focus group

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by The Natural

[NikoBaltimore]

The Cageside article is worth reading for not only Cody's reasoning for the promo but also their take on why that didn't work.  Maybe Cody needs to adjust his workshop a bit more or at least add Daniels to it since he's a comic nerd.

[RIPPA]

Tony Khan said on Unrestricted that the Women's Casino Battle Royale will return at All Out

Also - he anticipates a "roster expansion" due to the new TV show

[John E. Dynamite]

The "focus group" is Brandi, the dog, QT, whichever Gunn kid got to borrow the brain that day and maybe Kenny Omega playing his Wonderswan in the corner. They're sitting on the floor in what's going to be the baby's room, barely furnished (the crib looks like two rings and a War Games cage. There is a roof). Cody is wearing nothing but a Versace bathrobe with several cigar burns on it and a set-worn Batman mask that Stephen Amell gave him for his birthday years ago. The group has told him four times already that the promo is good enough. If that's the case, Cody asks, then why has nobody cried yet?

Edited May 27, 2021 by John E. Dynamite

[Jenalysis]

22 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

If you're into making money, then yeah lol. Very different.

Center stage gave away free tickets and still only had like 300 right? I also don't think, when you're having a bit of trouble selling all the Dynamite tickets in Jacksonville, you're gonna be able to sell any tickets for a 6 hour taping session of enhancement matches. Saturday Night was WCW's main show when they were doing Center Stage. Not asking people to show up for Austin Gunn vs independent talents of varying skill level... for six hours.

I mean unless you are wanting them to keep taping these matches in empty buildings? But that's not how you improve. No matter how serious you take an empty building match, you're never going to learn as much from that as you will in front of a live audience. You can't really learn you listen to a crowd and feeling their energy....  if there is no crowd. Right?

 

I mean, if AEW wanted enhancement matches with a crowd, they could send their talent and camera crews to an indy area and tape matches on a Friday or Sunday, and then let the talent work the indy Saturday and put the indy guys over on their show.

Golden Boy largely does fighting game events, with those restarting, he might only be around for Fyter Fest (and not until next year, Jebailey isn't starting up until December)

Edited May 27, 2021 by alstein