NoFistsJustFlips

They are scared to death of someone seeing a strike not land. So they purposely do the shaky cam / overkill of cuts especially in the mounted punch position. I can promise you this shitty camera work breaks me out of my immersion in buying the work way more than a few worked punches that don't land.

I agree with your takes. But JR himself shit talks when WWE took him out of the full time rotation and used him only for sit downs and big moment Mania matches. He's said on his podcast he hates that and he wants to be a full time play by play guy. Just pointing that out to demonstrate why, even tho we all agree that would be best, it isn't going to happen in AEW. He's also said he has no desire to go back to working the administrative side. Basically old cranky man wants to do one thing and one thing only, so don't expect either of those options to be on the table. But I agree he could help in the talent relations side big time if he were willing.

I disagree, at least to the extent that AEW wouldn't have landed the TNT deal without Jim Ross. Speaking in past tense here. He was, above even Jericho, the number one name TK put out there that got the network excited. JR is a catalyst for Dynamite even being a thing. Without him on board TNT doesn't bite. Without TNT, AEW doesn't get locked in as a real and credible promotion. So I understand your point but you're not understanding the business side of the coin. People that don't watch wrestling make the big decisions. TNT wanted JR. TNT got JR. No JR, no TNT. That's not me throwing out a theory. That's all stuff that has been reported and verified. Going forward tho, yes I agree. As long as it doesn't upset the network. They need to find a tasteful and respectful way to phase him out. I am so on board with a two man booth. There's a dynamic and a rhythm that comes with a two man team I just enjoy. Gorilla and Bobby doing their back and forth. Jesse pestering Vince. Even Nitro was best when it was Tony & Bobby in one hour and Bischoff & Zybysko in the other hour or whatever. What's old is new again. I'd have Dynamite be Excalibur & Tony as the regular team. But still work in Taz for the strong style matches (I think he added in a ton for the MMA fight). I'd add in Callis for The Elite Matches. I'd add JR in on Hoss fights. I'd have Rampage be JR & Taz with the same join in Dynamic, at least until JR's contract was up. Schiavonne on old school shit. Excalibur on new school shit. I'd also sign Veda Scott and get her to join in as the women's wrestling expert on both shows. So primarily a two man booth with a third one working in for added emphasis sometimes would be my preference.

Ehh the twitterverse coming for him after botches isn't bad press. Him doing the rounds and ranting about how he got phased out for being old, ageism if you will, would be bad press in places that matter. Places the network execs / sponsors would see. But you are correct. AEW is established now and JR isn't bringing in any lapsed fan at this point. But I do think that's a false argument. Because his value is more to the sponsors and networks that associate him with wrestling when they were pulling in 8 million viewers a week. The business side of the business is full of people that don't give a shit about the wrestling. "Oh you have the guy from when wrestling was hot as your lead announcer? Okay that means something to me." That's how TNT became involved. TK listed a bunch of people he thought he could land. JR was one of the big fish that got TNT interested. Wrestling is literally the least important part of the wrestling business when it comes to business.

Jesus can we dial it back a bit? Fuck the old disabled guy... you know because he said the wrong initials? Chill out brotha. I have defended JR on here a bunch. But I have officially changed my tune. It's not just the slip up. But he really does hate what he's seeing and it's obvious in his commentary. He brings a bunch to the table. But he's also taking a bunch away from the show's enjoyment. The slip ups wouldn't be so bad if his general disposition wasn't so sour all the time. I don't have a good answer on how you phase him out without being disrespectful to him / making it obvious. His contract ends this year and he has been very vocal about only wanting to resign if he can do 1 year deals instead of the long term deals they have been presenting (3 years). As was seen in WWE, he's very proud. When he gets demoted it really effects him emotionally. So I'm not sure switching him over to Rampage is even the answer. There's really not a way to promote him to an off TV role either. It's not like being head of commentary production is something he would want to do and work the headsets in the back. So I really don't know the answer. If they let him decide he's gonna stay on air until he's physically unable to travel. But if they take him off the air by force, he's going to make a lot of bad press for them

Speaking to Kenny specifically, he has a torn shoulder labrum. It makes it really painful to do upper body work. His chest still looks good but his shoulders have lost some mass and his right arm is down right tiny (the arm that has the labrum tear). A labrum tear doesn't heal it's self if it's completely off the bone. You need surgery to reattach it and he's been putting it off. You can work through it without adding too much extra damage. But your workouts / aesthetic will suffer. Speaking as someone who currently has worked through a torn shoulder labrum myself for 3 years now. America's health care system is dog shit but I digress lol.

Excellent point and proof that I'm not always right lol. It kind of ruins my argument that they aren't putting top guys on there by design. As AxB said above Mox generally only works by choice. But it still ruins my argument because even if Austin or Rock asked to work Jakked, they'd have been told no.

Good post. And this a fair point. They do have some talent bordering on wildly under exposed. Mind you MJF is not one of them because as pointed out above, he's on just about every episode of Dynamite in some form. He gets promo time or a recap video all the time, along with group beat down angles and such. I understand @HarryArchieGuswould prefer to see him in strictly one on one singles matches more often. But MJF is certainly not under exposed, so none of this relates to him specifically. Your greater point still stands tho. There are plenty of people that are under exposed. We'd all vote to have just the right amount of exposure for all of our favorites, obviously. But when given the option of matches to the point of over exposure, or using them so sparingly it constitutes under exposure... I will take under exposure every time. But that's just me.

Hold your horses there friend. Some of what I wrote was addressing the quote you quoted as well, not just you. But yes please choose between the numbers 51 and 2, there are no other opinions allowed... happy to see the intent of my post came through so clearly lol.

MJF should certainly get more than two singles matches in a year, not debating that at all. But putting your top stars on the jobber show brings down their stock. How many times did Austin work Jakked? How many times was The Rock on Metal? Hogan worked 10 TV and PPV matches a year or less in the 80s. For better or worse, AEW are committed to not over exposing their guys. They are being the total opposite of the competition. Bobby Lashley worked 51 matches on TV and PPV in 2020. Do we need to see a Bobby Lashley match every single week? Or does that burn him out and make him less special? The answer is a matter of opinion of coarse, but I am 100% burned out on Lashley and he's instant fast forward material for me. There is certainly room to improve and be closer to the middle for my tastes. But there is a big time anti-AEW sentiment on here that gripe about every decision they make. Take the blinders off and look at it analytically once and awhile and you might find a reason for some of the choices maybe? Not saying you will agree with the decisions. But people act shocked like there could be no reason for them to make their choices. There usually is an actual reason.

Saying you think they don't look tough enough to beat Kingson & Mox? Cool. You saying you could kick their ass inside of five minutes? Fucking dumb fantasy land shit dude.

???

Cue Todd from Breaking Bad talking to Uncle Jack : "No matter how much you got, how do you turn your back on more?" Corporate America in a nutshell.

I actually see the value to what you're saying. I'm not dismissing it outright like most people here are. But I think Jungle Boy specifically is a bad fit for the overcoming being a fluke story. Jungle Boy is cool. He's chill. He's got this mellow vibe of a dude you just want to see do well. Making him, even for a short time, look like a dweeb is going to hurt him more than help him. He'll lose that cool ass mellow dude vibe and just come off as mopey. I love the dude but he's still young and really doesn't have the range verbally to get into that kind of storytelling yet. Part of being the alternative is doing the unexpected. Doing what the other guys wont. WWE certainly wouldn't have Ricochet win the WWE Title from Lashley, just like they didn't let The 123 Kid beat Bret for it years ago. So there is value and substance to taking a risk that the other guys wouldn't. But for the specific story you are advocating for, Jungle Boy is a bad fit. Also the people who are talking about not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for The Young Buck's reign... am I the only one that sees a fulfilling next step on Jungle Boy's journey being him taking the tag titles off of The Bucks with Luchasaurus? Comes up short in his big singles opportunity due to bullshit interference. Leads to him dedicating himself to get retribution by taking the belts off The Bucks. Nice step up in the long term star making process for a home grown guy. I mayyy be giving TK too much credit for neat and succinct storytelling... but this is what my gut is telling me.

I understand your opinion of Kenny Omega. It's neither right nor wrong, because it's an opinion. Normally I try not to debate opinions because people don't just change the way they feel on things often. But this quote needs to be put into context a bit. Who is his promo supposed to be getting over? A promo is either spoken promotion for a specific match, or spoken promotion for a specific character. "Self indulgent"... IS his character. "Pretentious"... IS his character. So his promos ARE getting him over. You may not like his promos. You may not like his character. You also clearly don't like his work. But they have a clear purpose. Make people hate Kenny Omega. Like who gets over from a Christian promo other than Christian? Who gets over from an Eddie Kingston promo other than Eddie Kingston? Ya know what I mean? Promos aren't meant to get other people over very often. They are meant to build you up or your specific angle or match up. People don't want to hear this but Kenny's doing the millennial version of Ric Flair. People in the early 80s hated Flair. Everything gets retcon'd now with the benefit of hindsight. He was liked by a small vocal minority but the general fan that paid to come to the shows were just as annoyed with Flair in the moment as people seem to be with Kenny right now. Which is why having Flair on the card always drew so well. Everyone wanted to see him get his ass kicked. But more often than not you got a heat finish with his goons. Sound familiar?

See when I read the six months Tweet thing I assumed internally WWE has decided to scrap the 205 Live brand (effective at the end of the year). Maybe they have international contracts in place and have to finish out the year. This round of cuts is majorly focused on 205 guys and the Cruiserweight Champion doesn't even appear on there anymore. I get the Woods talk, but this seems way more likely to be what Sapp is referencing.

Also known as... every WWE TV product in existence. It's a literal rule to not look at any camera outside of hard cam. I agree with you 100% but that's what they want out of the talent. Strict rule, no shit talking to the the camera Harlem Heat style for some reason.

I just think it was an attempt to go viral. It didn't get much traction. And I don't see any punishment coming. He was far more reserved with it than he could have been. He also auctioned off the outfit and donated the proceeds to a planed parenthood charity. So even tho he didn't go viral and get a buzz, it's still a net positive as far as media attention goes. ?

This is a very good point. WWE for instance won't let you use any gear with a name or design on it when you do extra work. If your gear is too flashy they grab a stock pair of plain tights for you to wear. And it makes sense. The purpose of an enhancement match is to enhance your already signed guy. So someone with cool ass gear taking the attention off of them and into themselves does the company no good. I would expect AEW is the same way. Maybe not quite as strict. But certainly that is a detail that matters for every enhancement guy they let work on Dark.

Bear County's masks are pretty clearly supposed to be someone's face smushed in a bear trap. I can't say I get how that relates to their gimmick or who they are as characters (but I also haven't seen enough of their work to comment if they tie it in or not). Bear County / bear traps. That part is going over people's heads it seems.

Came up during the A&E Treasure Hunter show actually. Paraphrasing here obviously lol... but they were high school best friends. Hogan was all about getting into the wrestling business and Beefcake basically tagged along because he didn't have any real hopes or dreams of his own and just wanted to party on the beach. Kinda just rode another dude's ambition for a few decades. Super weird to me, but it ended up working out really well for him. Solid heel tag team run, one of WWE's top babyfaces of the expansion years, main evented a Starrcade, had a job anytime Hogan had a job. Lucked into a hell of a career.

Before the pandemic they would tape 3 matches for Dark (usually 2 before / 1 after) and a 2 hour Dynamite. Now they plan on taping 4 or 5 matches for Elevation, a 2 hour Dynamite, and sometimes a 1 hour Rampage all in one night. Plus also taping Dark on a separate day from a separate building, probably keeping it at like 10 matches a week. And sometimes stand alone live 1 hour Rampage tapings. That's a major increase. It used to be 2 & a half hours of content a week from one building. Now it's like 5 or 6 hours of content, sometimes being filmed from as many as 3 different locations in a week. That's an exponential growth that seems hard to juggle to me.

I get it from a business perspective. This is what happens when they don't get the PPV revenue anymore. They have no incentive to save the important stuff for PPV. They can put some of the major happenings on the TVs and it's not going to hurt their box office take, and may even help the TV have stronger ratings / help keep the massive rights fees coming. We all say it. 2020s WWE is a content company, not a wrestling company.

This is the first real head scratcher of a move for me. And from the sounds of it my opinion differs a lot from the majority here. But why would they waste money renting a building, flying in all the talent, putting all that effort in... for enhancement matches on You Tube? I get that people are saying what they'd like to see out of the show. What buildings and stuff. And that's cool I'm not hating on any of it. But I'm coming at it from the point of view of financials and the business side of the business. There isn't a lot of upside in spending all of this money just to have squash matches on You Tube. So I don't get it. Maybe they view Dark as their developmental program and from their perspective it's their "performance center" for lack of a better term...? Seems like a whole lot of expense, effort, and the possibility to spread the work force a little thin. Let's hope they can handle all this expansion. They are going from 1 TV show a week pre pandemic to 2 TV shows a week now plus separate Dark taping now. Plus having to fit shit together like a Tetris game on what weeks Rampage is taped or live, and how and when to tape that and also still tape Elevation. That's a lot to juggle.

Scratch that. @Infinitwas right, they posted today tickets for June 30th go on sale tomorrow. Pleasantly surprised, the live shows just have better energy.