AEW - AUGUST 2023

[Technico Support]

12 hours ago, wpdougie2180 said:

What is the reason they didn’t pick up experienced women like Marsha Slamovich or Killer Kelly when they were available? Why not Jordynne Grace now? Trinity? Kairi Sane? Use Kiera Hogan beyond being a jobber, she showed so much more than her current position when she was in iMPACT.  Look at iMPACT’s women division & compare it to AEW’s. The Hex & Kilynn King were/are right there. Put Athena on TV, the fixes are right there but not sure he’s ever wanted to fix them. Tony hired AQA, Marina Shafir, Madison Rayne, Taya Valkyrie & Layla Grey instead. May just be about talent evaluation *shrugs*

Kiera Hogan had a really good angle and great match in ROH with Athena.  As far as why she, Athena, etc. aren't on AEW proper?  Lack of time and TK's talent evaluation.  He's got certain women he likes for the main show and that's about it.

9 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Why don't they just Dark Match the shit out of the shows to give the youngins their reps? 

Thar's what ROH is for, and a major reason I dropped the service.  I don't understand the "ROH should be developmental" discussion when it feels like it already is.  I mean yeah, they could do more.  Take all the AEW talent off ROH, make it totally separate, have actual storylines with different talent.  But TK seems dead set on blending ROH into AEW, probably as advertisement for ROH.  Put the ROH champs on AEW, put ROH belts on AEW talent, and hope the main show viewers seek out ROH.  Is that working?  Who knows?  Probably not.  But it's a turnoff if you want ROH to be something better and different and not just "AEW Junior."

[Just Dave]

Some of my favorite wrestling TV of the last 15 years was that WWECW island of misfit toys format after it was clear Vince didn't give a shit anymore. A mixture of rookies and veterans that there weren't any plans for. AEW's developmental, whatever you want to call it, ROH or otherwise, should feel like that. Having Sheamus work short series' of TV matches against guys like Finlay and Goldust did him a world of good early in his career. Swagger got better working with Christian. Shit, a lot of people got better working with Christian. Regal and Shelty B, too. Zack Ryder has never been better in ring than when he was learning and growing matching up against Regal and Tommy Dreamer. Format a show with that distinct purpose. Give them their own titles if it means guys won't be as upset being allocated there. Imagine how quick young guys would improve working tag matches against 2.0 and Butcher and Blade. Shit, use Hager as the centerpiece for a bit. A guy like Action Andretti or Nick Wayne overcoming Hager to become developmental champ would be fun, and a good way to spread your veterans out a bit.

[The Natural]

4 minutes ago, just drew said:

Some of my favorite wrestling TV of the last 15 years was that WWECW island of misfit toys format after it was clear Vince didn't give a shit anymore. A mixture of rookies and veterans that there weren't any plans for. AEW's developmental, whatever you want to call it, ROH or otherwise, should feel like that. Having Sheamus work short series' of TV matches against guys like Finlay and Goldust did him a world of good early in his career. Swagger got better working with Christian. Shit, a lot of people got better working with Christian. Regal and Shelty B, too. Zack Ryder has never been better in ring than when he was learning and growing matching up against Regal and Tommy Dreamer. Format a show with that distinct purpose. Give them their own titles if it means guys won't be as upset being allocated there. Imagine how quick young guys would improve working tag matches against 2.0 and Butcher and Blade. Shit, use Hager as the centerpiece for a bit. A guy like Action Andretti or Nick Wayne overcoming Hager to become developmental champ would be fun, and a good way to spread your veterans out a bit.

I really liked WWE ECW especially 2009 for those reasons. I'd and Yoshi Tatsu to your list. Christian's ace run as ECW Champion was the best.

[Godfrey]

You could make ROH a touring, developmental brand for sure, and it would definitely help. But I think AEW itself should be touring more too, get the Elite/HoB working 6-man main events around the horn as a draw and let the undercard be where you work stuff out. Especially for the women's division, the roster isn't deep enough that you can send all the women who need reps to ROH for very long (and some of those women are at the top of the division)

[Dog]

1 hour ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

I'll work harder to find a source when I'm not pretending to work (pretty sure it was Dave) but I recall someone posting here that Collision was either going to be a second Rampage hour or a standalone hour on Saturdays, but things changed once Punk was back in the mix - I tend to think that may be true, especially with all the weird 'roster split' talk going on at the time (and my apologies again for clogging EVERY thread with the five steps of grief immediately followed by hypothetical draft talk...)

Andrew Zarian was the first to really report on anything about Collision, after he says he had dinner with a WBD person. The plan at the time was to just televise what had been Dark and Elevation, so they'd have an hour of extra wrestling content on Saturdays. Then yeah, with Punk healing up around when the debut was set, the idea got bigger. 

[HarryArchieGus]

4 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Kiera Hogan had a really good angle and great match in ROH with Athena.  As far as why she, Athena, etc. aren't on AEW proper?  Lack of time and TK's talent evaluation.  He's got certain women he likes for the main show and that's about it.

Thar's what ROH is for, and a major reason I dropped the service.  I don't understand the "ROH should be developmental" discussion when it feels like it already is.  I mean yeah, they could do more.  Take all the AEW talent off ROH, make it totally separate, have actual storylines with different talent.  But TK seems dead set on blending ROH into AEW, probably as advertisement for ROH.  Put the ROH champs on AEW, put ROH belts on AEW talent, and hope the main show viewers seek out ROH.  Is that working?  Who knows?  Probably not.  But it's a turnoff if you want ROH to be something better and different and not just "AEW Junior."

I like Kiera Hogan, and liked the bouts with Athena. The angle much less so. In their first bout, Kiera was beaten solidly with no reason for a blowoff. Somebody pointed out at that time that Athena had also handily beat her on either one the Youtubes or Rampage a month or so prior. Not so much a well executed story arc. The big blowoff street fight and initial matches between the two were pretty fun.

I'm not sure how accurate it is to suggest Athena not being a TK's favorite, or the idea that she's being held back or under a 'ceiling'. Moving over to ROH and letting her do her thing is what has elevated her. She also just Main Evented the ROH PPV which was kinda prestigious. It's hard to believe she's not being well considered for a top spot going forward. But yeah, Athena would certainly provide a boost to the current struggling AEW Women's Division. 

2 hours ago, Godfrey said:

You could make ROH a touring, developmental brand for sure, and it would definitely help. But I think AEW itself should be touring more too, get the Elite/HoB working 6-man main events around the horn as a draw and let the undercard be where you work stuff out. Especially for the women's division, the roster isn't deep enough that you can send all the women who need reps to ROH for very long (and some of those women are at the top of the division)

I love the idea of ROH touring, but I sense the budget, both money and time, won't allow for it. PPV buys and HonorClub subscriptions likely don't even meet the current costs. As for AEW, a number of, if not all, top tier talent have a specified amount of dates in their contracts, so working house show loops is completely out of the question. I see that as a good thing. Veteran talent (most talent; everybody but the greens) need to rest their bodies rather than flying around the country working houses. Wrestling's long rich history makes clear the phsyical/mental toll of constant touring. We don't need new material for Darkside of the Ring, there's still lots of ground to cover. The lack of dates is also a perk come contract talks, and a reason some of our favorites are more likely to stick around. That said, it's certainly a good idea having ppl working each other on houses before TV. Greenhorns wrestling one another or working the talent they'll be facing on TV soon has been done recently. And proved valuable. Ethan Page v Hook and Toni Storm v Skye Blue( @Matt D ?) were both examples. I do hope they can fit some more Houses in on the off days.  

Edited August 9, 2023 by HarryArchieGus

[Godfrey]

3 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I love the idea of ROH touring, but I sense the budget, both money and time, won't allow for it. PPV buys and HonorClub subscriptions likely don't even meet the current costs. As for AEW, a number of, if not all, top tier talent have a specified amount of dates in their contracts, so working house show loops is completely out of the question. I see that as a good thing. Veteran talent (most talent; everybody but the greens) need to rest their bodies rather than flying around the country working houses. Wrestling's long rich history makes clear the phsyical/mental toll of constant touring. We don't need new material for Darkside of the Ring, there's still lots of ground to cover. The lack of dates is also a perk come contract talks, and a reason some of our favorites are more likely to stick around. That said, it's certainly a good idea having ppl working each other on houses before TV. Greenhorns wrestling one another or working the talent they'll be facing on TV soon has been done recently. And proved valuable. Ethan Page v Hook and Toni Storm v Skye Blue( @Matt D ?) were both examples. I do hope they can fit some more Houses in on the off days.  

Board ate my first message sorry if this is a double post

Veterans know how to protect their bodies when they want to, nobody needs to get dropped on their heads. I know I've seen Chris Jericho fill 20 minutes at a house show and the only bump he took was when he hit the Codebreaker (not that I want that same thing at this point in his career). I understand that it's a different style of working, saving your body for one match a week instead of working safer matches more days a week. I just think you could split the difference and everyone would benefit. Like the schedule, it doesn't have to be nearly as intense as it was in the 80s. They could work two weeks a month, Thu to Sat. As far as I'm concerned, if wrestlers are making 'NBA money' then six extra shows a month isn't that much of an ask, especially for the fans

[AxB]

Full Gear 2023 scheduled for Saturday November 18th at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles apparently.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

53 minutes ago, AxB said:

Full Gear 2023 scheduled for Saturday November 18th at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles apparently.

SATURDAY PPVS ARE BACK!!! Hell yeah!!!!

Kind of wonder what's up with Collision that week, whether we'll get a short version with the PPV going 9-12:30, or a sweet WCWSN pre-Road Wild/Souled Out edition at 6:05, or an extra hour of Rampage on Friday, or maybe we just skip it...

I know everyone's tired of hearing my bitching about it, but while I've really, really enjoyed Collision so far, I would sacrifice it for Saturday PPV to return full time without a split second of hesitation

Edit 2: This brought up a question on my mind - I wonder if we'll ever get a themed Collision, ala Blood and Guts, Winter is Coming, Beach Break, Grand Slam, etc. It seems perfect to use Battle of the Belts for a themed episode instead of as standalone specials, which have had varying degrees of quality and juice to them

Edited August 9, 2023 by Zakk_Sabbath
Oh, you know what? I was in the bubble when I posted that - NBA is back in October, there's probably a pre-emption on TNT and it just worked out that way

[Casey]

Saturday PPVs never left - Full Gear was on a Saturday last year too.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

1 minute ago, Casey said:

Saturday PPVs never left - Full Gear was on a Saturday last year too.

Good call, forgot about that. Still, though, they used to ALL be, with the exception of the holiday weekend Sundays, which was fine for the majority of U.S. based fans, at least. Now that you've reminded me of that, I'd wager that it has more to do with TK not wanting to go head to head with the NFL as an owner, which he's mentioned publicly before

[Shartnado]

On top of getting to watch ROH from my television in full screen mode, now the missing (from DAZN) first two episodes of Collision now showed up on FITE. This has been a nice couple of days.

So, if I have the time, (in Finland) Monday through Wednesday are empty, unless there was a PPV, but then Thursday it's Dynamite, Friday Impact and ROH, Saturday it's Rampage and Sunday Collision.

I guess the early week should go to watching all the old stuff I've missed, but of course the 8,5 or so hours of the above programming is quite a challenge to find the time for.

Edited August 10, 2023 by Shartnado
That's a lot of good wrestling

[twiztor]

1 hour ago, Shartnado said:

On top of getting to watch ROH from my television in full screen mode, now the missing (from DAZN) first two episodes of Collision now showed up on FITE. This has been a nice couple of days.

So, if I have the time, (in Finland) Monday through Wednesday are empty, unless there was a PPV, but then Thursday it's Dynamite, Friday Impact and ROH, Saturday it's Rampage and Sunday Collision.

I guess the early week should go to watching all the old stuff I've missed, but of course the 8,5 or so hours of the above programming is quite a challenge to find the time for.

there's always the NWA on YouTube as well. Tuesdays @ 6:05pm Eastern (US) time. it's a pretty breezy 45 minutes each week.

[Shartnado]

11 minutes ago, twiztor said:

there's always the NWA on YouTube as well. Tuesdays @ 6:05pm Eastern (US) time. it's a pretty breezy 45 minutes each week.

Tuesdays you say? I think I could work with that. Thanks!

[matt925]

Got my Stockton dynamite tickets. I’ll probably make the road trip to Full Gear, and figure there will be more California shows during those 6 weeks. Good times, hopefully they have some hot programs coming out of All In/All Out. 

[zendragon]

Jack thinks he's cool as the otherside of the pillow? Hooks gonna put him on ICE~!

[Zimbra]

Dumb trivia question of the day: From 1988-2020 every Royal Rumble save one has had at least one participant who has appeared (in person) on AEW TV in 2023.  What year is the exception?

[Log]

1 hour ago, Zimbra said:

Dumb trivia question of the day: From 1988-2020 every Royal Rumble save one has had at least one participant who has appeared (in person) on AEW TV in 2023.  What year is the exception?

I'm going to go with 1994.

[Casey]

4 minutes ago, Log said:

I'm going to go with 1994.

Billy Gunn was in that Rumble.

I was confused about this question, since literally every Rumble since 1988 has had someone appear in AEW. But then I saw the qualifier, “on AEW TV in 2023”.

It’s 1993, isn’t it?

[twiztor]

1 hour ago, Zimbra said:

Dumb trivia question of the day: From 1988-2020 every Royal Rumble save one has had at least one participant who has appeared (in person) on AEW TV in 2023.  What year is the exception?

i'm going to do no research, put no thought into it, and randomly guess 1991.

[Zimbra]

1 minute ago, Casey said:

Billy Gunn was in that Rumble.

I was confused about this question, since literally every Rumble since 1988 has had someone appear in AEW. But then I saw the qualifier, “on AEW TV in 2023”.

It’s 1993, isn’t it?

Winner, winner.  I had to add the "in person" qualifier since Owen was in 1993 and has been on tv in archival footage.

This question was brought to you by Indica and Wikipedia: Making You Lose Time Since 2001.

[Log]

4 minutes ago, Casey said:

Billy Gunn was in that Rumble.

I was confused about this question, since literally every Rumble since 1988 has had someone appear in AEW. But then I saw the qualifier, “on AEW TV in 2023”.

It’s 1993, isn’t it?

AH! How'd I miss Billy? He, Jake and Dustin were my go-to's for many many years looking through results.

[tbarrie]

16 minutes ago, Log said:

I'm going to go with 1994.

3 minutes ago, Casey said:

Billy Gunn was in that Rumble.

Also Jeff Jarrett.

3 minutes ago, Casey said:

I was confused about this question, since literally every Rumble since 1988 has had someone appear in AEW. But then I saw the qualifier, “on AEW TV in 2023”.

It’s 1993, isn’t it?

I just scanned the list of participants for '93 and I think you're right.

[Casey]

2 minutes ago, tbarrie said:

 

I just scanned the list of participants for '93 and I think you're right.

Konnan & Virgil are the answers.

[Shartnado]

1 hour ago, Zimbra said:

Dumb trivia question of the day: From 1988-2020 every Royal Rumble save one has had at least one participant who has appeared (in person) on AEW TV in 2023.  What year is the exception?

Is there an early Rumble where every participant is already dead at this point? If not, then I'll go with 1991.