Kev

Am I out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong. Either way, he looks far too sleazy to be an otherwise fairly vanilla up and coming, fiery babyface.

Yes! The actual intro to the song seems perfect for an entrance theme, even if you did a quick cut into the chorus after it, they need to add that intro in. Speaking of themes, Hayter’s is a banger. I’ve liked Ruby’s presentation but the match reminded me I was never high on her from what I saw in WWE, solid enough but not particularly interesting. A new finisher would be a start, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that kick look very impactful. At least ditch the arm wringer and try to do it more Satomura-like I liked the quick women’s promo follow-up to the battle Royale, short and effective. Along with the aftermath of Ruby’s match it feels like the division is finally getting a bit of depth in stories/characters, rather than them spinning their wheels on Dark with rare Dynamite appearances thrown in. I’ve said it before, but Pillman needs to ditch the mullet, it’s such a bad look for a face. The Blondes whole look generally is so dated that it almost feels like it should be a heel thing.

Havoc is probably the highest profile release they’ve had as he was being featured pretty regularly. But, my understanding is that was on the back of speaking out stuff, so their hand was somewhat forced rather than them actively realising he didn’t have much to offer (he didn’t, he sucked). With Kong, it seems like there was a mutual realisation that she was too broken down to still go. Shanna and Mel are probably the closest examples to what I was thinking, but they were both so low profile that it didn’t really register. I suppose what I was trying to get at is there becomes a point where you realise that people you are featuring regularly maybe aren’t worth it. And will Tony be strong enough to make them calls. If it’s a case of quietly letting people’s contracts run out like Mel/Shanna then that seems like a pretty reasonable way to do things (assuming you’re not having people sit out contracts for years).

Just to jump onto this, because I really thought they nailed the whole presentation around Punk-Darby. And, at the risk of drawing the ire of @John from Cincinnati with the comparison, it was such a breath of fresh air to WWE’s style. On the face of it, they did what we often would criticise WWE for, legend returns and beats a current star straight away. Except it didn’t feel like a negative for Darby at all. Firstly, while Darby is one of their top stars, he’s not quite reached the top yet, he’s fell short when he’s faced top guys like Moxley. Contrast to WWE bringing in Goldberg and immediately going over the world champ, which screams ‘today’s stars aren’t as good as yesterday’s’. The loss for Darby here still feels like a step on his journey to the top. And, it’s obvious Punk is still a big deal, but they’ve clearly positioned him as a veteran and sown some doubt into it. You’ve got the question of whether Darby can beat Punk, but just as big is whether Punk can still hang with the likes of Darby. I think Punk winning was probably the right call, but they could just have easily had Darby win and had an interesting direction to go with Punk. Yeah, just really well and smartly booked, giving themselves a win-win scenario.

Yeah, I don’t get that Flair/‘can’t help himself’ vibe from HHH at all. I don’t think he’s worked more than a handful of matches per year going back to about 2013. Flair was far more active, far later into his career. At HHH’s current age, Flair was basically just coming back to WWE and that run (in-ring) lasted another 7 years.

I’m all for the roster rotation and think it’s largely being managed well. As it gets bigger though, I think it will necessitate some tough decisions and that maybe is a bit of an unknown for AEW. The general talk is that Tony is a good guy and locker room morale is high, so I wonder whether he has the ruthlessness to realise when talent have served their purpose/reached their ceiling and then cut them at the right time. I think the highest profile current example, as others mentioned, would be Brian Cage. I don’t see any upside in investing TV time in a face push for him and there are definitely examples (e.g the women’s division generally) where that time would be better served. Lower down the card it’s maybe less of an issue as they’re mostly there to take Ls, but QT gets too much TV time. Luther only really appears on YouTube but even that’s too much, I think he has 0 value (at least on-screen). If whatever Sabian’s new gimmick is doesn’t work then he feels very expendable. And there’s guys like Solo who I see very little upside in (I was gonna say Angels here as well, but looked him up and he’s surprisingly young so probably worth more development time). Unless I’m forgetting, I don’t think AEW have cut anyone yet, unless it was forced upon them through outside stuff (COVID, speaking out, etc.).

That was a much better showcase for Statlander. I still think they should do something with her character, but just letting her do cool strength spots will help get her over. A couple more showings like that on the main shows, before they announced the title match, would have made it feel a bit hotter. In general, since Rampage started, it seems the women are getting more time/angles, so hopefully the division should really start to round out. With Garcia staring down Punk during the main, I was thinking it would be cool to do a ongoing thing where you have all these younger guys wanting to take down Punk. Let him get some reps in and build wins in slightly lower stakes matches, against guys who are at a level where the loss won’t hurt them and they’ll get some shine just from being in with Punk (Acclaimed, Angelico, Pillman Jr, etc.). You could run 1-2 months of different guys calling him out and then build to a slightly bigger name calling him out as his next proper feud.

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned OC actually getting the win during the pic-in-pic/ad break. I love that shit, if only so nerds like us can now point out that one time a match actually ended during the break. What’s with the DDT as Miro’s kryptonite thing? I like the general idea, but I don’t get the logic. Fuego hit a top rope tornado ddt (which presumably isn’t in Eddie’s arsenal anyway) and didn’t win with it. How does that represent his kryptonite?

NXT’s been in a bit of weird position, most obviously since 2019 with the TV deal, where they’ve kind of treated it as a 3rd brand, but it’s theoretically still developmental (while realistically it stopped being that years ago). I suppose they kind of tried to recreate their developmental structure with the likes of the Evolve deal, but that’s all fell apart (I don’t know whether that’s all on COVID or what). Basically, a re-think of the whole NXT/developmental structure was probably needed on a practical level, so boringly I don’t think this is the great political downfall of HHH that some are reading it to be.

Yeah, I’d back up what @Eivion and @Eoae are saying here. I think a couple of throwaway leaked comments about ‘no more vanilla midgets, only models now’, or whatever it was, have been taken way too literally. A quick google threw up recent comments from HHH and Samoa Joe where they talk about the ‘new’ policy and (while not denying it) they’re basically saying it doesn’t mean there’s suddenly some hard and fast rules about no Indy experience, nobody under 6ft or whatever.

Just to expand on this, I think Statlander has the same problem. Decent in-ring and I like the pairing with Best Friends, she has that same natural laid-back, goofy charsima that makes the group work (I’m not feeling the Yuta pairing by contrast, as he doesn’t have that natural like-ability). But she just hasn’t had any character development. The alien thing is strange in that it’s her whole character but it’s also largely insignificant. I mean it’s an ok look, but it’s kind of goofy. That’s fine, goofy can work but they’ve never actually done anything with it, it just feels kind of pointless.

I think the main issue with Red Velvet is character. In-ring she’s generally decent, her bumping is good and she really helped put Hayter over here. She does have a tendency to maybe try too much which leads to sloppiness, but I’d assume she’ll iron that out over time. But her presentation - named after a cake, ‘straight outta your mama’s kitchen’, ‘stir it up’ - is incredibly lame. And despite the ring work being fine for a smaller, fired up babyface, she doesn’t come across as likeable or sympathetic. It’s a similar issue for much of the women’s division and it’s kind of making Britt’s run a bit of a dud for me, because the characters underneath her are so underdeveloped. Its unsatisfying watching a heel do obvious heelish things to cheers and babyfaces being booed for making saves.

I’m not necessarily advocating for a Becky turn in itself, but in story terms there’s better ways to achieve it. Regardless of it’s overall success, the build to Austin’s turn is generally seen as pretty good storytelling. You can still get a couple of months of Becky as face fighting back to the top after her long lay-off. Plant some seeds of doubt along the way (has she been overtaken while she’s been away?), which also potentially allows you to put over someone else (á la Triple H). Then when the turn comes, it’s actually paying off a story and you’re elevating Bianca in defeat because you’ve established she is on Becky’s level (or above) and Becky had to cheat to win. Playing it out over time also let’s them have a bit of a lay of the land, and try to get a feel for whether the turn is a good idea (e.g. would the fans be likely cheer Bianca over Becky).

I don’t even think the main issue is how it hurts Bianca (although I’m not disputing that it does), it’s that the storytelling is dogshit. It’s an illogical moment, which pays off nothing and undermines stories that preceded it. If the goal is Becky as heel, I’d suggest the blueprint would actually be the Austin turn. You could probably build to that over a couple of months at least, and hit multiple story beats along the way.

In my defence, I’m still fairly new here. I did lurk for years but, as I was alluding to in my post, I mostly find the stronger ‘fuck WWE’ type posts pretty worthless so I’ve probably glossed over that type of stuff in the past. But, yeah, we can probably agree that resorting to personal insults based on someone’s apparent preferences in pro wrestling/sports entertainment is fucking stupid.

I get the sentiment behind this but I’m not sure it really fits. The WWE thing could definitely apply to things over the years like Bryan at WM30 or Kofi’s title win. But, at this point, do WWE even know what people want anymore? It’s more like ‘we know what we want (although we may change our minds) and that’s what you’ll get’. And it might not have been what you meant, but the way it’s written here comes across to me as if AEW is throwing all their good stuff at the fans just to create moments. But what AEW has done well is tell logical, longer term stories (generally) and protect their big matches/moments.

I think the Becky thing could actually be just as damaging to her as it will be for Bianca. Assuming they don’t suddenly drop Bianca from the title scene, she might get a bit of ‘how could they do her like that’ sympathy from the smart crowd and, in story, they can sell it as her being caught off guard/with a cheap shot or use it as fuel towards a heel turn. For Becky, it feels like the kind of thing that will have segments of the crowd turn on her (see the ‘fuck Becky’ posts earlier) or just lose interest. It’s kind of a microcosm of the issue with modern WWE - no matter how over someone is/how much of a star WWE makes them out to be, they’ll ultimately be undermined by completely unsatisfying storytelling.

Yeah, I think people are mostly civil here, but I do feel like there’s been a bit more of a general anti-WWE sentiment the last couple of years. I don’t really mind as, like others, I’ve completely lost enthusiasm for WWE. Although I do find some of the throwaway ‘everything WWE is bad’ style posts pretty pointless and tedious (‘how did WWE fuck this person up’, etc.). And with that there can be a tendency towards revisionism, which has lead to some pretty ridiculous takes like ‘the PC hasn’t produced anyone good’ (I feel like the exaggerated improvement of Tay Conti is a spin-off of this). But yeah, when there’s actual discussion I think the board is still pretty balanced on WWE.

I’m on board with WWE booking being mostly shit, but putting the post-Impact flops of Broken/Woken Matt all on them isn’t really fair. Wasn’t there a legal dispute with Impact claiming the Broken Universe IP when the Hardys returned? If I remember right, that delayed them using the gimmick, which killed off a lot of the momentum. It wasn’t very good when they did pull the trigger, but it was relatively well featured until, I think, an injury to Wyatt or Hardy ended the run. And the Broken stuff in AEW was largely shit. As pointed out, I don’t think the lack of crowds was really an issue as it mostly got over based on cinematic stuff. Tonally, it just didn’t fit with what was going on around it. And I’d suggest that’s the issue with the gimmick. It got over by pretty much going viral during the Impact run. I’d guess a decent amount of people weren’t actually watching Impact, but caught the Broken stuff in a bit of a vacuum where it’s easier to digest. Honestly, I don’t think he wackiness of the gimmick works within a promotion which people actually watch and is otherwise a pretty straight-faced presentation.

I don’t really get the Scurll thing. Other than them both being English and doing the finger snap, they’re pretty distinct characters from each other, and isn’t Dunne generally considered to be a lot better than Scurll (I haven’t seen enough of Scurll to judge). I can’t see many people making that association. Dunne, despite losing momentum compared to a couple years ago, I think could still feel like a relatively big deal. And isn’t Scurll’s stock pretty much dead at this point after not signing with AEW and then the speaking out stuff.

A little thing I haven’t seen mentioned. Last Dynamite or on one of the Dark shows, they’d teased QT apologising to Tony for dumping the protein shake on him a couple weeks back. They must have decided against whatever they were gonna do, but Tony had a throwaway line about QT going back on it because of Tony’s tone. Now, I’d forgotten it was even teased and I couldn’t give a shit about seeing QT, but I still appreciate the attention to detail. I thought the top rope stip for Jericho-Juvi would play off last week more, with it being about whether Jericho could actually hit a dive at all considering how beat up he was. They went with a escalation thing of what top rope move he could use as a finish instead. It was fine and lead to a nice finish, but felt a bit low stakes after last week. Echo some of the sentiments that I’d like to see a Wardlow win next week. Remember he still has beef with Hager though so that might play into the finish. Despite getting a bit more time, the women’s division is still really weak and it doesn’t feel like they’re making much progress on fixing the issues. Red Velvet didn’t come across likeable at all and she feels like (and was treat like) a complete non-challenge. As has been said, they haven’t got enough strong contenders to be running the NWA thing as well. Let more of the women have actual feuds and develop some characters rather than just throwing out random matches. Not everyone will progress and get over like Baker, but she shows what can happen when you give someone time to actually develop a character. This feel quite negative so just to clarify, I liked this show and this recent Dynamite run is the most I’ve enjoyed weekly wrestling in years.

I know Spears is kind of a board whipping boy but, dare I say, he’s been pretty good in The Pinnacle. I mean I’m not getting excited about a Spears match anytime soon, but he’s pretty much the perfect fit for his role. He’s there to be the 5th guy, someone the face can beat early/mid-feud to overcome an obstacle/get one over on The Pinnacle, without sacrificing one of the important guys. He’s unlikely to go out and steal the show, but he’s reliable and just as unlikely to go out and shit the bed. The Chairman thing is a good gimmick in that he can still represent some kind of threat without ever really having to be seen as an equal to Jericho or whoever they’re gonna feud with. And the fact that nobody likes him works perfectly, he’s pretty much guaranteed not to get cheered over the face. No doubt there’s be better workers you could have in that role, but that’s kind of besides the point, I don’t see anyone else in AEW actually working as well in that role.

I usually hate this shtick, but weirdly I think it works for Page, precisely because it’s unrealistic. With The Bunny, for example, the ‘I’m craaazy’ thing is pretty much her whole character and it’s fucking dreadful and unrealistic. Now I’m probably giving him too much credit, but because Page’s character is primarily an arrogant douche, I take it more as him fronting. His character isn’t actually crazy intense, but he likes to think of himself as a bad ass and that’s how he thinks a badass would act. It kind of works as a nice contrast to Darby who comes across crazy and intense in an effortless sort of way.

Pretty strong show overall I thought. Not really a fan of the Bucks but I thought that opener was good - well laid out, with a hot finishing stretch. My one criticism would be Matt’s goofy expressions, they’re fine as an early match thing after getting caught with a chop or whatever, but coming off big moves later in the match it just feels too consciously silly and undermines whatever came before it. I’m fine with Eddie/Penta presumably not getting the win next week, they don’t feel like the right team to dethrone the Bucks, despite their AEW history and the ‘Eddie’s best friend’ thing, I don’t think they have much chemistry. Page/Darby stuff was good, and I liked all the talking stuff throughout. Jungle Boy/Evans and the post-match was solid and served its purpose. Miro/Pillman was good, Miro gave him just enough and Pillman looked good laying his stuff in when he got the chance, that dropkick to the outside was sweet. I’m not sure about Miro’s new theme though. It’s good once it kind of kicks in after 15 seconds or so, but the intro with the horns felt a bit off. I think it needs some kind of elaborate setup to go with the intro, maybe drop the lights and build to a spotlight on Miro as he appears like a God’s light shining down sort of thing. Brit/Nyla stuff continues to be a dud. They need to get that match out of the way and re-set as it’s been a poor start to Britt’s title run. Outside of Jade, I don’t think they’re doing a very good job building up anyone else in the division though. The main was decent but the kickouts at the end hurt it. I thought the tombstone was sold quite well afterwards, with Sammy doing the getting the feeling back in the fingers sell, but MJF needed to sell the knee for a lot longer to justify the kick out. I really liked how they shot the 630 with MJF begging and then Sammy hitting it with him in a slightly awkward seated position. The kickout was unnecessary though, they should have ran the Wardlow interference coming straight off him hitting that.

Nah, I think it was decent as well. Just in hindsight Nia didn’t really get over much as a face, was quickly turned back to heel so they could rush Ronda into the title scene, and then Alexa ended up getting the title back from her anyway, which kind of undone the whole thing.