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Goodear

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Everything posted by Goodear

  1. Maybe she could do one of those hosting gigs like Piper's Pit or The Brother Love Show.
  2. I remember Charles the butler but they didn’t mine that vein for enough of a payoff.
  3. Oh for the love of Pete. Folks, there’s no AEW membership you need to defend in order to continue to watch the show. It’s okay to say that an angle is not good (since words like ‘suffer’ are now being taken literally) and not give AEW a pass.
  4. I contend that is the absolute wrong message to get from the Miro situation where we had to suffer through six months of nonsense that all got wiped away anyway.
  5. Right? So instead of getting him in and going right into the mix, they put him on television doing the things he is weakest at (talking) and now we're less excited to see him because he's already been on the show a month and done nothing. Even if they did introductory vignettes to establish his character would have been better because they could have shown him doing something rather than sitting around and doing promos.
  6. Alex Reynolds Last Time: Reynolds is pretty much captain average as a performer. He doesn't really flash a lot and can fade into the woodwork a lot if he's allowed to do so. So we need to find a way to feature him if we are going to have him on the roster so he serves a purpose beyond the second tier Dark Order tag team or the Marty Jannetty of the pairing with Silver. Reynolds as is doesn't really engender a lot of attention as he's kind of the other guy in a tag team right now. He needs something to latch onto or he's going to be an afterthought. Since Last Time: Reynolds has been solidified as the other guy in the Silver team even as Silver has been off television with a shoulder injury. Alex has been relegated to losing in Dark main events in some of the more random Dark Order pairings or as a single. If anything, I've grown more appreciative of Reynolds as time has gone on and have favorably compared him to Christian as a guy without a stand out physical feature but still can put together solid outings. What Now?: Reynolds has really not stepped out of the Dark Order shadow and needs to either find a hook or get out of AEW before he has loser stink on him for the rest of his career. He's like the Health Slater or Bo Dallas of AEW who worked there for a lot of years but never got to do a lot except be in a group now and again and do jobs on secondary shows. He's likely to stick around, but he's so far down the pecking order, he's not likely to get a shot anytime soon except as Silver's Robin. I actually think he could do more in the business but needs a repackage and something to hook audiences.
  7. Young Bucks vs Penta El Zero Miedo & Eddie Kingston The Bucks are simply overexposed at this point. Having already beat Penta and Eddie with their regular partners, this would be a really weird time to start putting the babyfaces over. I guess when you beat all the tag teams, you have to beat all the different combinations as well. I look forward to The Bucks winning Battlebowl this year. I expect Rick Knox will furiously enforce the rules and to catch the dastardly heels who trick him every week. MIro vs Brian Pillman, Jr. for the TNT Championship Title Should be good. Pillman has angry Trent? energy when working enhancement matches so he should be able to stand up to Miro before going down. Miro's been the best part of off schedule Dynamite so I expect him to continue on that roll. Eventually, they are going to have to throw Pillman a bone in terms of getting him a win on Dynamite but it won't be tonight. Britt Baker & Rebel vs Nyla Rose & Vickie Guerrero This program has been a giant miss thus far as they've pretty much bungled Baker's coronation and quasi face turn. Rose is a terrible top contender and Vickie hasn't done anything to help any of her charges. On a separate issue, Andrade not working yet has been a big old mistake and squandered his momentum from the jump to AEW. He's still not actually interacting with anyone or doing anything. Sammy Guevara vs MJF It will be interesting to see Sammy work babyface as a singles since he really hasn't done that yet on television. I really feel they aren't using the Pinnacle-Inner Circle feud right as they should be using the Dangerous Alliance template to keep this feud going rather than lots of promos and set pieces. I think they should have done more trios and tag combinations to save the payoff matches for PPV or big events. They could have done Sammy/Jericho against MJF/Wardlow and saved this as one of the blow offs. Jungle Boy vs Jack Evans JB should beat Evans in a few minutes to keep his main event steam. Having him work 50/50 with nonfactor Evans to further the Hardy-Christian angle is a misuse of everyone involved.
  8. If anyone wants to keep count of the Hobbs is a Genius thing, I wanted to mention how he got around a botch against Hangman while they were working around the post on the outside. Page was supposed to pull Hobbs into the post, but their grips slipped and Hobbs ended up not doing the spot. So rather than go back to it or pretend it actually happened, they seemed to adlib Hobbs acknowledging the botch and then putting Page on his shoulders to get to the same place where he ended up bumping to the post. I've found Hobbs to be a really effective squash match worker in terms of getting himself over. This would be a different challenge where he likely will have to give Stunt something based on Marko's role in the company but selling a lot for Stunt would be terrible for Will's prospects.
  9. Christian seems a lot more active than other veteran hires and is a really good in ring talent who gets around his lack of physical superlatives well. He works as a veteran who can still go and if they manage his losses well, he can get over younger talents while also providing in ring mentorship. His being Jungle Boy's "Sting" is a great use of him.
  10. I wouldn’t since Miro is running so hot right now and it would come off as JB settling for the consolation prize of the secondary title. I would be more amenable to him and Christian going over the Bucks since they don’t really have a good feud going or obvious challengers on the wings with FTR and Santana/Ortiz being tied up with each other. Really the last, last thing they need is to keep running him against the title wall and failing over and over.
  11. I guess my only ‘out’ with playing back and forth with the title was if it created some sort of lasting change to the characters. Like if Omega went completely off his rocker and made significant alterations to his outlook or style or something along those lines, it could be worth it. But wrestling is pretty Marvel comics right now where everyone goes back to status quo a lot of the time so it would be a wild change to modern booking philosophy.
  12. This is incredibly true and one of the major pitfalls wrestling bookers need to look out for when putting together stories. There is the one thought of the "money being in the chase" where heels come out on top the vast majority of the time and the fans are given crumbs of hope on occasion before the heels get back on top. WWE did this all the time with HHH and WCW did it all the time with Hogan to the point people became less interested because things didn't move forward and frequently reset to the status quo. Honestly, its time for Omega and The Bucks to start losing matches where they aren't teamed with narrative failures (in that the characters very rarely do anything right) like Nakasawa and Cutler. Heels used to lose all the time but escaped with the prize and kept their heat in the process. They don't need to come out on top clean all the time.
  13. I don't like quick switch backs either in any circumstance because it wipes away the catharsis of the title switch to go back on it so quickly. That then engenders even more frustration than if they didn't do it the first place. I thinks its okay if not ideal to go from person A to person B to person C quickly but person B at minimum should get to enjoy the moment for at least a few weeks before losing the strap to Person C. Otherwise you just grind your fanbase down and they never get to feel the sensation of the good guys really going over.
  14. I really liked Funk’s selling of neck moves where he’d put an arm in the air while laying on his stomach and kind of doing the Curley shuffle.
  15. I've never had any issue with Bear Country's wrestling gear. I'm still a bit perplexed by their masks and what they are supposed to be.
  16. I honestly think that Beefcake somehow became underrated despite the fact that he's never been that good. He was totally an effective babyface working Honkytonk and Mr. Perfect before his face got destroyed. While he was never even a good worker, that certainly didn't stop a lot of people in the era from getting over. The hedge clippers were because you could see them from a distance and are effectively giant scissors. It's a more effective visual than coming out with shears. Also he could chase people around with them.
  17. Actual Hobos with unremarkable butts. I think one was Arik Cannon but I'm not sure? I don't think they named them individually on commentary. EDIT: My Mistake, I thought the guy on the left was Cannon.
  18. Alan Angels ("5" of the Dark Order) Last Time: He seems competent enough but there's no stand out quality that makes him more than a member of the third string tag team on a too large stable. He's not someone memorable. I can't see Angels really making any sort of impact going forward. Angels seems like just a guy and I don't see the need for a guy to have meaningless technically proficient matches that serve no purpose. Since Last Time: More of the same really. Angels hasn't done much of anything to break out and The Dark Order has really become less important to the show, its really done a number on the guys on the squad who already weren't getting any steam. They've somewhat elevated 10 in the last six months and that tag team is a lot less active and we've gotten a lot more random tag team combinations to do jobs in Dark main events. What Now?: I can't see them doing anything more with Angels. He's pretty locked in as a hand at this point and doesn't have the tools to break out of that box. He's in that hanging on position where he could be let go at any time or he could be with the promotion for the next ten years and never get a push out of the effort.
  19. Adam Page Last Time: Of all the AEW guys with no WWE experience or exposure, I would pick Page as the one with the most mainstream appeal and the best chance to cross over into big draw territory. Page has great strikes in particular his boots and clotheslines which always seem to hit in a satisfying flesh to flesh manner. We seemed to be on the verge of something major when Page and Omega faced the Young Bucks at Revolution but to be honest, it feels as though not pulling the trigger on someone turning caused the angle to sputter. I'm still baffled by them taking their potential breakout star and making him a sad drunk. The belief seems to be we're taking a guy at a 7 of being over, intentionally dropping him to a 5 so he can rebound to a 10. This idea ignores that sometimes people don't recover from their heat diminishing when they go to reheat. Since Last Time: Page has spent a lot of time in the background and has recently began to reemerge winning a decisive feud over Matt Hardy (although I don't think they got a lot out of the quarter's earnings stipulation) and currently rolling over Team Taz. While it's good that there is now some noise about at least having something to do with the World Title, I don't think AEW did a great job of keeping Page hot during the pandemic due to inactivity. What Now?: Going from Cowboy Shit to Sad Drunk to Anxious Millennial Cowboy seems like taking something that was working, going to something that absolutely didn't work and then transitioning to something that works better than the second thing but not as well as the first. While I think it's a more nuanced character to not have Adam be a kick ass cowboy who pounds beers, I think the simpler character would prove to be more popular to a live audience. I don't know that the association with the rudderless Dark Order really helps him either as they have yet to figure out their role post Brodie. Both The Dark Order and Page seem to have spent the last six months without solid directions and neither helped the other get over their hurdles. I think we all have Page penciled in as the next World Champion and we've had that in our minds since before Omega ever got the strap. I really can't decide if we can call this all long term storytelling or just long gaps between story beats. It feels like there should have been something between Page and his former partners in the Elite before now (one could say the same about Cody and I will make that point in his write up) but time has just been going forward with no real steps being taken.
  20. It’s not so bad, he seems sympathetic to Chyna now despite not thinking she was much of a worker. He spends a lot a time on the people surrounding her (the people doing the film before the rights fell to the current team) and how they contributed to the situation.
  21. Abadon Last Time: Abadon has one of those gimmicks that should stir creative ideas instantly. Honestly, if you can't look at Abadon and have 3 good booking ideas, you should not be writing for wrestling. She's the type of character that should always be up to something if only for the spectacle ... Working skills are less important to a character like Abadon but she does some of the little things right. She should never lock up. She shouldn't out think anyone ... All in all Abadon may not be ready for a big push but she is someone who should be featured in the undercard a lot. She needs booking protection in that she really shouldn't be beaten flat but can eat pinning combinations and disqualifications. She's a spectacle wrestler and AEW doesn't really have those (especially in the maligned women's division). Since Last Time: Abadon spent a lot of the last six months on the Youtube shows outside of a short series with Shida for the women's title. She ended up eating Shida's running knee finish and was beaten pretty flat with no outs. All in all, she spent a lot of time making occasional appearances on the Youtube shows and recovering from an injury from a match with Tay Conti. What Now?: One of the things that are needed for a healthy women's division is to have things going on that don't revolve around the actual women's title. Abadon could be helping by working the B or C feud in the division as a roadblock or serving as the Abdullah the Butcher working outside of the title picture. As she currently stands, Abadon can serve as a puzzle that an up and comer like Red Velvet has to solve in order to move up the card. Instead she has spent much of her time spinning her wheels. I do believe that Abadon is a bit of a missed opportunity thus far. She leaps off the page in terms of look but they haven't been able to make her reality match that presentation. One could argue they've had similar issues getting Penta Zero M into a position where his cool look pays dividends. I can't say that Abadon isn't holding up her end as she continues to work her gimmick effectively by wildly flailing at the opposition like a zombie/lunatic would.
  22. Who wants a six month review? Nobody? Tough. Aaron Solow Last Time: New Signing Since Last Time: Came in as a member of the Nightmare Family where he mostly teamed with Lee Johnson but was part of the faction that turned on Cody and became The Factory. What Now?: Solow isn't completely untalented although I think we would be hard pressed to put him on the top tier of AEW in ring talent. I would put him on the same tier as a Alan Angels who doesn't embarrass but doesn't always impress either. He's clearly the most sound of the Factory trainees while having the lowest upside of the three. He seems to be mostly around to provide the meat of tag matches and eat losses. I would say this isn't a terrible spot for a guy with few superlatives and serves decently as the second tier coach for the guys with less experience. I would love to see him put together some increased form of identity in order to find a persona of his own beyond "the fourth guy". Hopefully with more shows coming down the pike, AEW will give the shows some singular identities and do some sort of pseudo brand split where different talents are highlighted more frequently with actual angles. This can give Solow some sort of opening to establish the identity he desperately needs.
  23. Have you ever watched like a sitcom do professional wrestling and thought just how wrong it almost always looks and feels? It almost always seems to me like someone taking a very surface level understanding of professional wrestling and in attempting to translate it to a different audience, they make it look 'fake' which is amazing since it's already fake to begin with (sitcom wrestling loves them some airplane spins let me tell you). I would say that in this instance, trying to do fake MMA looked really wrong in a similar manner.
  24. Of this ends up with Wingmen versus The Best Friends 4-on-4 and Kris tombstoning Peter to hell, it will all have been worth it. Actually its already worth it.
  25. Penta El Zero Miedo, Eddie Kingston & Frankie Kazarian vs. AEW World Tag Team Champion Matt Jackson & The Good Brothers It's funny how the worst parts of this show are the Executive Vice Presidents. Omega's angle earlier was the pits (the only good part was kicking Nakasaka at Jungle Boy so he could get away). This was more of the same where the Young Bucks "outsmart" their opponents because the booking is terrible and requires the referee to cooperate to the point that everyone assumes Knox is on the take (and may be if you count BTE but the actual television show doesn't say that). Let's play everyone's favorite game of "What was Rick Knox" looking at? This week Knox managed to be distracted by his concern for Karl Anderson for no good reason. Clearly AEW doesn't care that they suck at interference spots because they continue to do them. Not sure having the Elite Hunter losing his first match against the Elite is a good idea. Orange Cassidy (w/Best Friends & Kris Statlander) vs. Cezar Bononi (w/The Wingmen) Good lower card silly fun. The Wingmen are a fun goofy heel stable and Peter almost stole the whole show with the dramatic angst cradling Bononi at the end. Cezar is awkward but who cares if the match is kept short and focuses on fun instead of serious wrassling action. Cody Rhodes & Brock Anderson (w/Arn Anderson) vs. QT Marshall & Aaron Solow (w/Nick Comoroto) Also good, Cody gotta Cody but I guess giving guys their first wins as your partner is one way of trying to give them the rub. Brock looked good and flashed some mannerisms from his father that were very welcome. He moved like Arn a couple of times like when he pulled Solow's hair, worked the arm and that DDT was sweet. His presentation is obviously throw back bare bones and I think I kind of like that rather than throwing him in standard modern gear. Solow desperately needs some sort of direction other than the fourth guy in the Factory. Handicap Match: Darby Allin vs. Scorpio Sky & “All Ego” Ethan Page Also, Also Good. Page and Sky are hitting their stride as an act. I'm not sure if Men of the Year is a great team name but I'll give it some more time. Finish felt hot with the right amount of possible false finish with the zip tie spot. I loved that as Darby gets to show off that he indeed have a plan in order to beat two guys. Page got to look smart too as he came up with a counter to the spot that wasn't super contrived. I really liked that he tossed the tool box back under the ring as it looked like there was barely anything in it but Page managed to hide it. Sky has found a way around his lack of killer instinct and I'm with him on it. Penelope Ford vs Julia Hart Match was okay I guess, Hart has something that needs some nurturing. Miro is FIRE although the last thing he needs is to be associated with Kip Sabian in any way again. It's a super chad move for him to 'protect' Ford though against those dastardly Varsity Blondes. Pillman looked good here too bowing up on Miro and I'm looking forward to that. MMA Rules Cage Fight: Jake Hager vs. Wardlow I think this idea was okay in concept but failed in execution. MMA doesn't have the pauses in the action like wrestling does so these two were never able to set a MMA pace that looked accurate to even a casual viewer like myself. I really think they just kind of left Wardlow out in the weeds for no reason looking gassed and throwing some really bad punches. Post match was dopey as Jericho just looks unmotivated or unable to move with any sort of energy. The timing on the multiple run ins just felt really off as though Sammy wouldn't be right there waiting for The Pinnacle to jump in from a logical point.
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