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AEW - JUL 2021


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43 minutes ago, AxB said:

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On any indie promotion in America, this would be an easy win for Rickey Shane Page. Dante wouldn't be ready for that level of competition. But in AEW, RSP is jobbing hard.

Curious where these were shot. All the Miami taping matches were shown already. Unless there was some sort of secret taping before and after the show, these might be whatever remains of the Jacksonville tapings.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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I would say that is surprising but they did have Matthew Justice on a couple times (who was thankfully a tad better than expected)  So if one ever wonders how valued Janela feels in AEW that should answer some questions.  And yeah I'm leaning towards either Jacksonville leftovers or another day of Miami tapings.

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2 hours ago, AxB said:

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On any indie promotion in America, this would be an easy win for Rickey Shane Page. Dante wouldn't be ready for that level of competition. But in AEW, RSP is jobbing hard.

 

Now if it was Dante's brother it would be a different story. 

 

I got no problems with Dante being pushed a bit anyways, he's going to be really good.

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10 hours ago, Ryan Faulconer said:

Man, they really need to fix the names of their YouTube presence.  Why would you name a second show nearly the exact same name?

I imagine it was a matter of managing expectations. They wanted to make it clear that the second show was pretty much just an extension of Dark.

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No Juilia Hart in that picture makes me think she’ll get fazed out. Which I wouldn’t mind. I think she fits the act a lot, but she is getting way too much, too fast for somebody so new. Her getting more seasoning down at The Factory, and on the indies will help her out more than just throwing her out there as the cheerleading manager of The Blondes.

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59 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

No Juilia Hart in that picture makes me think she’ll get fazed out. Which I wouldn’t mind. I think she fits the act a lot, but she is getting way too much, too fast for somebody so new. Her getting more seasoning down at The Factory, and on the indies will help her out more than just throwing her out there as the cheerleading manager of The Blondes.

 

Julia's fine, she part of the Nightmare factory, and she's gotten over a bit.  She's gonna do her Tier 0 time, but she'll make it.

 

 

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1 hour ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

No Juilia Hart in that picture makes me think she’ll get fazed out. Which I wouldn’t mind. I think she fits the act a lot, but she is getting way too much, too fast for somebody so new. Her getting more seasoning down at The Factory, and on the indies will help her out more than just throwing her out there as the cheerleading manager of The Blondes.

I honestly hope not. I agree that she's been getting a lot quickly - but it's not that hard to harness what they do have with her if they feel it's too much. If you think she needs a little more work, she can get that in at the Factory while also managing the Blondes. She's a part of the group now and the fans have gravitated towards her, so pulling her out now would be a huge mistake.

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The crowd for Dark Elevation seemed so dead, and for much of it, I get it.  There were a few highlights, but a lot of it was the usual middle of the road.  Thus far, the Paul Wight commentary experiment doesn't seem to be working so well.  It is early, but he needs to be working with somebody that can teach him.  Excalibur or 'Mark' is fine, but he's not the guy whose going to teach him good habits.  It's also blatantly obvious, at times, when he's feeding Show the lines.  'Yeah, she wrestled for Joshi Pro'.  Yeah Paul?  He also made a boneheaded awkward comment comparing Lee Johnson to Apollo Creed.  JR gets shit for the race comparisons, how bout the Giant?  

Also, Schiavone as the lead is so weak.  It exposes his range and ability.  A lot of nonsensical calls and comparisons.  He barely knows the moves.  Reminds one of his awful WCW run.  A run that's been buried by this goodwill comeback kid AEW run.  

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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Paul Wight has actually improved A fair bit since he debuted just before “Evolution” this past spring.  His first time ever in AEW programming and he a) called his current employer’s upcoming PPV the name of a long-gone stable from his previous employer b) possibly caused expectations for the surprise to go off the deep end into completely ridiculous speculation territory.  Everyone, including AEW, ran with the exact wording that Wight used on Dynamite that first night in.  

How often do these overhyped surprises actually live up to the hype?  Since when do wrestling promoters deliver on the mystery and hype?  It seemed strange to me that many online chose that week for promoters to live up to their carny projections for the future of wrestling as we know it.

During the unfortunately beloved Monday Night Wars the surprises almost never meant anything meaningful outside of Kane and the birth of the NWO.  Rick Rude meant something for about a week when he was on both Raw & Nitro on the same night.  Kelsey Heather just did the same thing yesterday on RAW & Dark: Elevation.  While Heather’s appearance won’t be confused with a hyped surprise she and Rude will be two answers to the same trivia question in the distant future.

Anyway, I assumed Wight’s improvement was mostly unanimous amongst Elevation watchers.  As small as we are as a distinct people in the DVDVR/PWO subculture I thought Schiavone’s renewed zeal for pro wrestling was both unquestionable and unquestionably better than his last years of work inside WCW’s toxic atmosphere.

Aside from Excalibur’s awkward introduction of TAFKA Tommy End I have a difficult time seeing any problems with his announcing in AEW…particularly Dynamite and PPv.  Those last five years or so of WCWSN had plenty of levity among commentators ranging from Scott Hudson, Mike Tenay, Schiavone, occasionally Herman and the biggest riffer of them all - some larger than life goofy guy named Dusty Rhodes. 

Pro wrestling really needs some newer knowledgeable voices.  Excalibur has been doing this job since 2003.  For those unfamiliar with him -what he did on PWG shows could be seen as a shift even further into Dark-style Laissez-faire wrestling commentary.  He is much more structured in the traditional play-by-play style whenever matches with big stakes, title matches or key BOLA matchups.  He would later add Dynamite and PPV to his work resume.  He has matured somewhat…into a mask wearing announcer.  He never won the Wrestling Observer Best Announcer when he was working his goofier self in Dave Meltzer’s pseudo-guilty pleasure promotion in PWG.

I guess there is Mauro…

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Nice points. 

Excalibur puts in a nice effort on Dynamite and PPV.  That said, I often find his storytelling and move calls awkward.  But that's okay.  And to be clear, I don't hate Tony Schiavone.  I think he does a tremendous job with interviews.  As a commentator, I find him awkward trying to sell pretty much anything, but he's far more listenable as a third on Dynamite than as a lead on Nitro.  

Perhaps I'm a little hard on Wight.  I like trying retired or semi-retired wrestlers on commentary, but he's clearly not a natural in this position.  He sounds like he's really trying tho, and he's not going anywhere, so I do hope he finds his groove.  

4 hours ago, Dog said:

I was afraid for Yuka Sakazaki's safety in that match with King. If NXT wants King, let them have her, so they can take it back to fundamentals.

Yeah, that apron spot looked gnarly.  I mean in a good way, but also in the way you're refering to.  I wouldn't judge her run on that one spot tho.  She's been very solid - which is more than you can say about many in the division.  I didn't really see anything else that looked dangerous, but I was having a tough time keeping my attention on this bout or most of this show.  This was due to both the lack of crowd heat and the in ring fumbling thru much of the night.  How about Amber Nova forgetting to pull her shoulder up and Paul Turner blatantly lifting it.  Just count that shit.  If a wrestler is so green that she/he could potentially forget to lift their shoulder during a 2 count - well, that might be good criteria for not booking them.     

4 hours ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

No Juilia Hart in that picture makes me think she’ll get fazed out. Which I wouldn’t mind. I think she fits the act a lot, but she is getting way too much, too fast for somebody so new. Her getting more seasoning down at The Factory, and on the indies will help her out more than just throwing her out there as the cheerleading manager of The Blondes.

I wouldn't underestimate the opportunity and experience that being on TV provides, but yeah, she's nowhere near ready to be on TV.  She's had countless flubs in the little she's been asked to do.  And it's totally understandable considering her experience level, but yeah, why push her onto TV so quickly?  

The Women's division has come a ways, but last night was not proof of that.  On top of the aforementioned there was also an awful whiff right in front of the camera from Red Velvet.  I like Velvet, but she's got some ways to go.  I sometimes wish they had these green ladies work Young Lions style bouts.  Keep it simple.  No flips and shit on the outside.  Get the fundamentals down as @Dogmentioned concerning King. 

I feel like they should worry less about farming the records on Dark and just get their contracted and (mostly) competent ladies fighting one another all the time.  Like, why is Serena Deeb ever wrestling enhancement talent.  Get her in there teaching these greenhornes how to do it.  

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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@Zakk_Sabbath

Presale was supposed to begin Thursday but that’s when US Open tickets go on sale for the same venue, so they bumped it up a day. If I see any presale codes I’ll add them here. Hope it does really well. If the crowd is pretty full it’s going to look amazing on tv. 
 

PRESALE CODE AEW718

I’ll post more as I see them. Ticketmaster has separate presales for venue and aew listed so I’m sure there’s more codes. 

Edited by matt925
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Don't know if it was shown anywhere, but they just said on Dark tonight that Sammy Guevara will face Wheeler Yuta at night one of Fyter Fest. *insert eyes emoji here*

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5 minutes ago, Krone Meltzer said:

Don't know if it was shown anywhere, but they just said on Dark tonight that Sammy Guevara will face Wheeler Yuta at night one of Fyter Fest. *insert eyes emoji here*

Hope they get the opener. Sammy was also pretty good in that role before Hangman took that spot.

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So here's a thought. Lots of people feel AEW's roster is too large, but unanimity on who exactly should be cut seems hard to come by.

So with that said - is there anybody out there willing to stand up for the Gunn Club as a useful part of the roster?

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Well Billy at least does double duty as a producer or coach or whatever AEW calls them. I don't think Austin and Colten are signed to contracts, so they're fine as dark filler far as I'm concerned. As far as usefulness... well if/when AEW makes a trios title they can pad out the tournament and job to someone in the first round. 

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3 minutes ago, BrianS81177 said:

Well Billy at least does double duty as a producer or coach or whatever AEW calls them. I don't think Austin and Colten are signed to contracts, so they're fine as dark filler far as I'm concerned. As far as usefulness... well if/when AEW makes a trios title they can pad out the tournament and job to someone in the first round. 

But that would require them to job, something they never do. Colton's AEW career record is something like 22-0.

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Why are they using so many rookie women to begin with?  Anna Jay and Red Velvet have worked out better than one would expect.  Two rookies on the babyface side show star potential.  That’s ditto for the heel side starring Jade Cargill.  They can’t book the rookies as the stars, even though they are some of the biggest stars already.

The experience in the division is left to vets like Serena Deeb 15 years, Allie/The Bunny 16 years, Riho 15 years, Rebel 7 years, Penelope Ford 6 years,  Nyla Rose 8 years, Leva Bates 14 years, Hikaru Shida 12 years, Thunder Rosa 6 years, Brandi Rhodes 10(?) years…if Cagematch can be trusted everyone else has 5 or less years.  Most would still be classified loosely as “projects” or “prospects” in the Women’s Division.  
The division’s prominent names including Dr. Britt, Abadon, Leyla Hirsch, Anna Jay, Red Velvet, Diamanté, Big Swole, Julia Hart, Jade Cargill, Kris Statlander, Tay Conti and then all that other non-contracted ladies of AEW that have a frightening lack of experience and ring time.  

I don’t think Brandi can help the rookies do much of anything.  Maybe she can be an expert on walking to the ring and looking like she owns the spotlight.  She is actually great at those things…just not the wrestling portion of this pageant we call professional wrestling.  Leva Bates has a lot of years but she would be better served helping with gimmicks or honing a personality.  With all due respect whatever I have learned about Rebel usually relates to just how bad she is in the ring over her career.  She is a good second for Britt - so she has 7 years experience and still looks clumsy and untrained whenever she actually does wrestle. 

AEW sure could use someone like Meiko Satomura on their roster.  They really need…the female equivalent of a Christian Cage-quality worker.  If they can pull someone younger but still versed in the styles of different companies from SHIMMER/SHINE/etc or WWE’s discard pile then that would be even better still.  Which veterans are even available at this point in time?  Who isn’t overexposed or settled into retirement?  They could probably get a long AEW-style program with the supernova of the division, the AEW Word Women’s Champion…somebody with a freakin’ day job for crying out loud.  

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18 minutes ago, BrianS81177 said:

Well Billy at least does double duty as a producer or coach or whatever AEW calls them. I don't think Austin and Colten are signed to contracts, so they're fine as dark filler far as I'm concerned. As far as usefulness... well if/when AEW makes a trios title they can pad out the tournament and job to someone in the first round. 

*Win it

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Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie
14 minutes ago, Ryan Faulconer said:

Why are they using so many rookie women to begin with?  Anna Jay and Red Velvet have worked out better than one would expect.  Two rookies on the babyface side show star potential.  That’s ditto for the heel side starring Jade Cargill.  They can’t book the rookies as the stars, even though they are some of the biggest stars already.

I seem to recall that the women's division was built around a lot of Japanese talent to start off. Then, well, the pandemic hit and everything went kablooey.

That said, length of time and quality of time are not the same things. I'd take the Anna Jay/Red Velvet/Jade Cargill trio over a good amount of indie women currently out there because they're getting consistent ring time and training/feedback with veterans with TV experience. (Well, Anna Jay isn't. She's injured. But you get the idea.) Someone working the indies for five-plus years isn't going to be able to replicate the experience of getting direct feedback from consistently working with someone like a Dustin Rhodes for a year. Not to mention that Serena Deeb fits the mold that you might be asking for them to fill already.

But if Nicole Savoy and Allysin Kay are free agents and are capable of being signed... I sure wouldn't complain if AEW picked them up.

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1 minute ago, Stefanie the Human said:

I seem to recall that the women's division was built around a lot of Japanese talent to start off. Then, well, the pandemic hit and everything went kablooey.

That said, length of time and quality of time are not the same things. I'd take the Anna Jay/Red Velvet/Jade Cargill trio over a good amount of indie women currently out there because they're getting consistent ring time and training/feedback with veterans with TV experience. (Well, Anna Jay isn't. She's injured. But you get the idea.) Someone working the indies for five-plus years isn't going to be able to replicate the experience of getting direct feedback from consistently working with someone like a Dustin Rhodes for a year. Not to mention that Serena Deeb fits the mold that you might be asking for them to fill already.

But if Nicole Savoy and Allysin Kay are free agents and are capable of being signed... I sure wouldn't complain if AEW picked them up.

The dream would be Kairi Sane, but she wants to stay in Japan and also looks to be still contracted with WWE in some fashion. A bit surprised that they never signed Tenille Dashwood when she was a free agent, as she could fit alongside Serena Deeb as the vet that can still go.  I like how the AEW women's division has evolved and people like Tay Conti and the good doctor have improved exponentially, but agree with the thought that the division can still use a solid vet or two.

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