NoFistsJustFlips

Textbook Freudian slip lol. Vince is gone. They'll be working for Steph & Vince now you dumb dumbs! ?

The multi post back to back to back spamming seals it for me...

I am bummed they had to recast Jeff. The original actor had this sleazy charisma that totally fit in as a random dude that would try to extort Saul. The recasted actor had none of that menace and danger. He gave off more of a buffoon vibe. I would have loved that final interaction in the garage with the original Jeff. Would have had more layers and a much better tension. I was expecting this to be the Walt & Jesse episode in the BB timeline. So I will admit to being a bit disappointed that there was a light and kind of out of place Gene episode here. But I liked the story they told regardless. Good way to handle being extorted.

Do Flair's divorce settlements count in this category? If so... Idk man... Vince probably isn't even halfway there yet lol

I know you mean well, and you're just looking at AEW with a positivity spin here. But no. Ghosting a dude under contract wondering if you plan on renewing him or not is not normal or okay. Even WWE doesn't operate like that. You may get a BS answer, but you're gonna get an answer. The Markos / Janelas / Brian Cages have said they could not get any sort of response from the company that employed them. That's not okay. Cage even said he was shocked his contract got renewed because no one would respond to him. Now as far as Gresham specifically & creative, that I'm little more forgiving of for AEW. There's a boss. There's a head of creative. He's essentially the writer & director of the shows. Pitch ideas as much as you want through the correct channels. But just because TK doesn't text you or call you to specifically tell you if he is or isn't going with that idea isn't lack of communication. Not being happy you're losing or turning heel or whatever is valid. But if the booker doesn't change his mind because of your ideas, that's not disrespecting you. That's just business. So contractual stuff where they have a department setup to handle questions and concerns ghosting you = bad. The head of creative not giving you detailed replies to each idea you present to the agents / coaches = not as bad. At least that's my take on it all.

Man if it's me... they're in MSG tonight. There's a new head of creative for the first time in 40 years. There's buzz. There's optimism. Punch that shit up and give us something exciting and new. Capitalize on the interest in Triple H taking over. But I'm fairly certain they will be rolling with whatever was already written. It's a big mistake in my opinion. But it's just the way WWE operates these days. No big new splash and exciting first night, just business as usual.

I get your thought process here. I bolded AEW guys for emphasis. They're all AEW guys now. Gresham was an AEW guy. He had a contract. It's no different than having an expectation that WWE owned NXT should have non contracted guys hold their titles. Not really a realistic strategy. The Briscoes are signed. Dalton Castle is signed. Rush is signed. Gresham is (was) signed. It's all in appearances who is 'ROH' & who is 'AEW'. It's all the same company. About the only ones on the main PPV event that aren't signed as far as I know are Dragon Lee & The Righteous. That's why I've been critical of this idea of running ROH as an "equal" to AEW. They're just turning ROH into AEW2 with a different logo. And I don't understand the business sense of that. WWE & Triple H era NXT I get. They were stylistically different and going after different markets. AEW & ROH currently are teh equivelant of Raw & Smackdown. In essence it's a brand split with no actual separation or rules. In other words so far the presentation sucks so far. In my opinion that is.

From what I remember they continued out the working agreement to the contractual conclusion after the MSG show, but the MSG was the tipping point where they made up their mind to not renew the working relationship when the deal did end. Not telling your partner that you're running a worked-shoot run in from two very toxic performers at the time (one of which has already done a legit shoot attempt at hijacking a WWE PPV) is some minor league shindy shit. A New Japan tag team was out there while Enzo & Cass did their run in / fight segment and all indications are ROH did not clue NJPW in on that happening ahead of time. So GOD got wrapped up n what they thought was a legitimate fight out there. As for the booker timeline, I could have it a bit mixed up. But I thought Delirious was out and Scurl was in. Full time. Total control. But the timing of it was that it was almost directly before the pandemic. So not much actually happened under Scurl's leadership.

I believe the extended timeline was something like this.. Delirious was the head of creative for a longggg stretch. After the MSG show with New Japan caused New Japan to end their working relationship they needed to replace Delirious as head of creative. In an effort to keep him from going to the upstart AEW, they signed Marty Scurl to a big deal and made him head of creative. Then the pandemic hit, and right in the beginning speaking out happened. Scurl was suspended indefinitely and eventually released when his allegations came out. During that time Gresham became the head of creative. They ran limited shows due to the pandemic. Bandido got Covid and couldn't defend to the title at the "last" ROH before before the planned hiatus. So Gresham booked the dual champion gimmick so the final show could still have a world title match. Similar to how AEW handles interim titles. Him vs Bandido was booked for the WM return weekend show to unify the titles. TK stayed with the booking of Grehsam over and signed him to a deal afterwards.

Here's the thing, Gresham is great at what he does. He's the perfect fit to be the ace of the Pure Division. Unfortunately he seems to feel like is beneath him (apparently). I mean this with the highest of praise. He's Dean Malenko. Dean Malenko was awesome. He was a part of some of my favorite Nitro stuff. His series with Rey & Eddy. His Jericho feud with the great Ciclope moment. Even as a team with Benoit in the Horsemen. His Scotty 2 Hottty top rope DDT was brought up in this thread even as a comparison to Dax's second rope piledriver. But Dean Malenko wasn't a world title level guy. There's this misconception in this generation (I'm guilty of it in my own career to be honest) that if you don't make it to world title status at a company, they don't value you. That's not true. The best shows have a variety of performers all playing their roles and making it a well rounded card for the night. Dean Malenko made a lot of money and is still super respected 20 years after his career ended. Gresham could be that guy 20 years from now if he put his all into making the Pure Division this generation's Cruiserweight Division. I mean I don't want this to sound disrespectful, but its the truth. The only reason he was ROH World Champion in the first place is because he booked it himself. Now the ghosting and lack of communication is bullshit. There's no excuse for that. AEW needs to get better in that regard. They need to be the place that respects all of their performers. If Christopher Daniels can't keep up with the talent relations stuff himself, expand the department. This is something that can really derail their future so they need to get it under control ASAP.

Despite my thoughts on the crowd, I liked this show. The opener & the main were worth the price of the show alone. I loved how smart they had Gresham vs Claudio work. They went out of their way to find creative and realistic ways for Gresham to stop Claudio & control the match. My favorite match style is big man vs little man, and this one had some fun innovative twists on that format. The main event was god tier. FTR are my favorite tag team of all time. The range of teams they've had killer matches with is just insane. DIY, American Alpha, Usos, New Day, Young Bucks, Briscoes just to name a few. Just so varied and so good. They're like someone crossbred Arn & Tully with The Rock n Rolls. The Briscoes are also so fucking good. The two teams just gel so well. Imagine this match happening in front of that NXT Toronto crowd where FTR worked DIY. This match could have been elevated to a match of the decade in front of a better audience.

This audience was straight dog shit. They were dead all night. That main event was god damn amazing and even during that there's long quiet lulls. I feel bad for everyone working on this show. It's so hard to put on a quality match without that energy. Especially when you know what you're doing isn't connecting. It sucks the life out of you like a force of negative energy. How many times did Caprice say all of these fans are on their feet and you can't find anyone sitting while they showed crowd shots of... everyone sitting? Worst crowd of the year in my opinion. You could hear a pin drop in everything but the opener & the main. Pull up Dragon Lee vs Rush. Thought the show was transported to a cemetery during that one from all that dead crowd inaction.

I actually think the opposite. If the cover story is her long time mentor came over to her house and berated her and accused her & her husband of ruining his career while hopped up on coke, then drove off to kill himself in the sea... that rocking her to the core and making her leave behind the law makes total sense. It doesn't raise flags, it sells the story. Howard "killing himself" was such a big moment she can't continue on. So she doesn't. She wants a new start because she can't practice law without thinking of her dearly departed mentor. Gus & Mike would probably be all for it. Because her & Saul together with their scams and schemes were always a liability. But her taking off kind of leaves Saul in a more docile neutered state. Without Kim Jimmy is just a small time hustler.

The joke is saying "Take camera 1" takes longer to say than they actually stay on any single shot. That's why I think it's possible he's mashing buttons without being able to call it. But you have a good point. He could just be directing verbally with a TD punching the buttons. Could just be they are so much on the same page he's punching the buttons as fast as Dunn is talking.

I know this is just an eye roll kind of deal dunking on it not being news. But talent aren't allowed to leave the building to get a steak. So even if that's all Brock did, he'd be breaking the rules. Call time is something like 11am. You're expected at the building by then and required to stay on the premises. If you leave for any reason you're gonna get your ass chewed out for it. The big names like Brock all have a comfy tour bus parked at TV so he has his own mini house to chill in. But he's not gonna be leaving unless he's actually leaving.

With how frequent the cuts are you're probably right. He might not be calling out what's up next and readying them like the AEW truck clip Matt D posted. Highly likely he just has the switchboard in front of him and presses on the changes without readying the camera. They might just have a system where everyone is to assume the shot is theirs at all times or something. I'm sure he communicates and calls out instructions but he might just be mashing a board like Ray Charles on a piano.

I'll be the first to say I was wrong. I did not believe it could happen. And there's still a part of me that is skeptical. Not that there's some conspiracy theory where he is running things in secret. But that this will be the way they handled Hogan. He went away until the temperature went down, then boom he was back around in a pirate hat. Could Vince's vision be to retire for a year or two, and come back down the line again? I hope not. I am legitimately fearful for what's about to come out. You know it's going to be unforgivable. If even half of what's been rumored to have happened to Ashley Massaro is true, that piece of shit Vince can rot in hell for all I care. That is some heinous shit. I so so so hope Dunn & Prichard are gone soon. WWE needs a creative reset. When Vince Jr took over for Vince Sr shit changed soooo muchhh. We need that much of a revolution to the way WWE is presented again. Fresh. New. Exciting. Different. That's what I'm hopeful for. Only time will tell I guess.

Don't think this part is feasible. Dunn needs to be in the truck to direct. He needs to see the cameras he's switching to every .43 seconds, can't do that from Gorilla. He also has no real wrestling experience. His experience is production. So he wouldn't be in the head wrestling position directing wrestlers on what to do in matches and directing how the commentary team tells the stories. He's a nuts and bolts guy, not a creative guy. Bruce as current head of creative will have that seat. Well until things settle down & Steph / Triple H purge the old guard.

Here's the mistake in the math, this isn't 1998. It's 1988. The title is resigned to the tippy tippy top of the top in AEW. I know a lot of people would like to see a World Title run for Kingston. And a lot of people fantasy book it and expect it. But it isn't going to happen. There was no Foley late 80s run for anyone. It was Hogan & Savage & Warrior. With a mini Andre thing in there. Punk, Jericho, Mox, Hangman, Omega. I don't see it being in the cards for Kingston. That's not me saying I'm opposed to it. If we get it I'll enjoy it and it will probably be a great moment. But I just don't see the timing lining up for it to be remotely possible.

I do think they need to find a better balance of showcasing the women. It's harder to defend the women disappearing because of it too. On an average week of AEW tv they run either 9 or 10 matches. Only two of them a week are women's matches. So yeah I get it. But when you start factoring in promos the number of women on tv go up. Same with Dark & Elevation. While Ruby may not be having matches on Dynamite in that time, she's still having matches. She's getting to work in front of the live audience. People that want to see her work can still see her wrestling new matches by clicking on You Tube. She still gets tv promos peppered in during those weeks she doesn't wrestle. She's been part of multiple Eddie Kingston stories and had segments building up to future tags with Britt and stuff. But even in this case, when she came back to be a part of The Owen she was fresh & the tv audience was excited to see her. Compare that Natalya challenging Rousey after not having much of a tv presence and people were not excited to see her. It's just something you're going to have to accept if you're going to enjoy AEW. A very small portion of the roster is constantly on 100% of the tv episodes. They rotate. Can they do better at it than they do? Yes. But what they're doing isn't going away. It's an active conscious choice.

Fair enough. Have any specific talents you're referring to? Because most often there's a reason when people disappear. Like Miro being out with his quad injury. And Samoa Joe being out to film Twisted Metal. And a bunch more like that. Anyone you can think of that just disappeared for months with no purpose you want to use as a jumping off point?

Thanks. Looks like I had my wires crossed and thought that was the rate for wrestling bookings too. I can definitely wrap my head around that price for Comic Con signings with the ridiculous amount of revenue being brought in and the structure you guys laid out. I can see that making sense and both parties ending up making a lot of money out of it. But as Stefanie said, Ric Flair charged $16,000. How could Sasha charge double Ric Flair for a wrestling show ya know? That's where I was mixed up. Because almost no one could make money in that scenario from a promotion standpoint.

This is such a tired argument. You're brain is just too stuck on current day WWE content churn to wrap your head around any other booking philosophy. Leave them wanting more. WWE in the 80s boom used this booking philosophy. Peak Nitro WCW used this booking philosophy. It's valid and useful. You don't burn the audience out on people the way AEW books. They are excited to see them vs feeling like just a guy. Like we're 3 years in to Dynamite. Darby still feels fresh to me. Hangman still feels fresh to me. Mox still feels fresh to me. Jungle Boy still feels fresh to me. These are all guys that have been featured for the whole 3 years. And none of them are stale. They have a ton of people signed but it's so you don't Dolph Ziggler your roster. Dolph has been around for 20 years and is stale as fuck. But I'd argue dude felt stale 3 years into the Dolph run. It isn't his fault. He wasn't fresh because WWE burn guys out. They run them into the ground and they don't feel special when you see them wrestle 52 TV matches a year. Miro, Andrade, & Malachi are all still fresh and people want to see more of them. You don't get that desire to see them if they're on TV every single week. You need to stop looking at it from a 'omg they are bloated because Darby doesn't wrestle more than 2 times a month on tv' POV. Because it's a purposeful 'well hey when Darby has matches on TV people are excited to see him and not burnt our by seeing him do all his signature moves every single week like WWE' style of booking.

Facts. Listen I'm not hating on anyone. Get that money. You're worth what people are willing to pay and she has a couple signings lined up. So she isn't over priced. But let's put some context in here. The Undertaker wants $10k for signings. In the 2000s Kevin Nash was $10k to book for a match. Braun Stroman's rate for non-CYN indy appearances is $10k. Sasha's rate is charging 3x more than Nash, The Undertaker, & Braun Stroman. I think this is a wrestling bubble thing more than anything else. She has mainstream fame because of Star Wars. You add that on top of the wrestling fame, and maybe that price makes more sense in the Comic Con scene or something? I'm not sure. But I can say for sure putting your wrestling rate at $30,000 is you saying you really don't want to take any bookings. Because that rate is like double the entire gate most of even the best indys make. The only people that could afford to book her are the tippy top indy's and money marks that purposely lose money on events. So AEW could afford that. Mayyybbeee GCW & MLW? Impact might be able to scrape together enough to use her once? But that's it. Knowing the ins and outs of the budgets for running indy events, that is crazy crazy crazy crazy money to ask.

This show man. Fucking incredible. Especially this episode and the previous. Kind of fun to know... This show is so good. I have no idea what these last five will even touch on now that the board is getting cleared.