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AEW - NOVEMBER 2023

Dolfan in NYC

By Dolfan in NYC
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Zakk_Sabbath

Zakk_Sabbath

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, zendragon said:

If Tony K doesn't see what he had in Super Bad Bunny tag team then they should go somewhere with women's tag straps and win those

I said the same thing a couple weeks ago about Marina/Nyla. I love both pairings, and would be thrilled to see either get a tag title run somewhere that has them.

Kind of crazy to me that there are two sets of trios titles, but no ladies' tag yet.

As an aside: my honest opinion is that the future is in a consolidated, unified, tag/trio optional title, open to teams of two and three alike. Possibly even open it up to mixed tags, why not.

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

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6 hours ago, Zimbra said:

A special 'most improved' award to Big Bill.

Oh hell yeah. Totally. 

I'm kind of disappointed in myself for pumping four previously-WWE guys into my top five but the talent is there. Without looking at the roster list was hard too because there are many that fell through the cracks. Garcia's always great. I haven't seen Best Friends much recently. Hayter's still out on medical. And I still couldn't do ROH out of partial guilt from just not watching. There are ways (and I should probably get on those). 

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Leonidas

Leonidas

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2 hours ago, Norwegian Rudo said:

Has Nigel improved a lot or something? I've been watching some NXT starting pre-pandemic and into it, and the improvement in commentary when Wade Barrett takes over for Nigel is massive.

Funny because I can't stand Wade and his fake TV accent. I'm loving Nigel's heel commentary, it's almost Heenanesque, Schiavone works as a decent Monsoon for him too on the rare occasions they've worked together. Maybe Ricciaboni can fill that spot if he decides to go full-time. And hopefully, we soon see Nigel against that Clamdigger Brittle Bryan Danielson one more time.

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Zakk_Sabbath

Zakk_Sabbath

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Posted (edited)

Here's another 'Make ROH Unique If They Insist On Keeping It' idea I just thought of scrolling by my earlier post about women's tag belts:

ROH should have all the specialties of title that AEW does not. We were discussing the idea of ROH doing weight classes earlier in the week, but I think it would be kind of interesting if they went with making ROH the home of all the gimmick and gimmick-ish belts; this way, instead of it being all confusing and samey whenever they're on AEW TV (as is apparently insisted upon) it makes them feel like they have a place and purpose both outside, AND complimentary to, the AEW branded titles. For illustrative purposes, imagine something like:

AEW World Championship

AEW Women's World Championship

AEW World Tag Championship

TNT Championship

TBS Championship

=

ROH International Championship

ROH Women's Pure Championship

ROH Trios Championship

ROH Pure Championship

ROH Women's Tag Team Championship

 

Edit: of course the weight class idea works a little cleaner, but I figured I'd blueprint within the existing title infrastructure - plus, as dope as that idea is, I always worry about accidentally blocking off Cruisers or Super Heavyweights in a 'ghetto'. Though, by the same token, with a mostly-overlapping roster, I suppose there's not much of a concern as long as the AEW titles aren't weighted (incidentally - has anyone else noticed an increase in usage of the term 'World Heavyweight Title' on TV recently?)

 

Edited by Zakk_Sabbath
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Zakk_Sabbath

Zakk_Sabbath

Posted
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1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

Oh hell yeah. Totally. 

I'm kind of disappointed in myself for pumping four previously-WWE guys into my top five but the talent is there. Without looking at the roster list was hard too because there are many that fell through the cracks. Garcia's always great. I haven't seen Best Friends much recently. Hayter's still out on medical. And I still couldn't do ROH out of partial guilt from just not watching. There are ways (and I should probably get on those). 

Yuuuuuup. I feel awful because I totally would if I could, but I've said it a million times: it is not feasible for my household to have an f'n Ring of Honor bill right now. Especially when, and I'm not throwing stones or saying this derogatorily, aside from a few faces it's not thaaaaaaat much different of a program than Dark/Elevation were. Again, I understand they're running a business, but on paper it's kinda tough to justify paying for something that largely similar to what's been given away free for 3 and a half years, no matter how badly I wanna see some of it. And lets be totally honest, I watched Dark and Elevation religiously, but there isn't a soul watching ROH, I'm sorry. I saw a whole ass reddit thread the other week about 'Wheres Leyla Hirsch?' 'She must be injured much worse than originally thought.' 'Maybe there was an issue in surgery or she got hurt rehabbing.' Motherfucker, she returned to ROH in JULY - and the ONLY reason I know because I was there.

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HarryArchieGus

HarryArchieGus

Posted
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16 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Here's another 'Make ROH Unique If They Insist On Keeping It' idea I just thought of scrolling by my earlier post about women's tag belts:

ROH should have all the specialties of title that AEW does not. We were discussing the idea of ROH doing weight classes earlier in the week, but I think it would be kind of interesting if they went with making ROH the home of all the gimmick and gimmick-ish belts; this way, instead of it being all confusing and samey whenever they're on AEW TV (as is apparently insisted upon) it makes them feel like they have a place and purpose both outside, AND complimentary to, the AEW branded titles. For illustrative purposes, imagine something like:

AEW World Championship

AEW Women's World Championship

AEW World Tag Championship

TNT Championship

TBS Championship

=

ROH International Championship

ROH Women's Pure Championship

ROH Trios Championship

ROH Pure Championship

ROH Women's Tag Team Championship

 

Edit: of course the weight class idea works a little cleaner, but I figured I'd blueprint within the existing title infrastructure - plus, as dope as that idea is, I always worry about accidentally blocking off Cruisers or Super Heavyweights in a 'ghetto'. Though, by the same token, with a mostly-overlapping roster, I suppose there's not much of a concern as long as the AEW titles aren't weighted (incidentally - has anyone else noticed an increase in usage of the term 'World Heavyweight Title' on TV recently?)

 

I'd be content with ROH titles being strictly for ROH TV and defended only on ROH TV. And title holders being ppl (mostly) exclusive to that show. ROH seems to be in a difficult spot right now. The need to save costs and record before and after Collision is a major issue with this product's presentation. Empty houses being the GLARING problem. Cutting down the live taping portion to a half hour before and after could help. Classic arena style lighting might help. And for fuck sake, certainly cutting out 90% of the squashes would help keep or draw a crowd. Tighten the show to a 60-90 minutes. An hour of in-ring with lots of promos and packages. Also, is WBD cock-blocking from a weekly ROH report on one of the TV shows? It would help the show to be fucking acknowledged in some meaningful way. Also, it might help to stop featuring the forgettable Win Loss records if it means worrying about farming Squash victories and protecting low card talent. And here's a wild idea - have the shows actually feature the Champions! MJF as Tag Team Champions is indicative of how out of touch and off the mark this side project is right now. So too Joe showing how meaningless the TV Title is.

Lastly, move ready talent (as in, having put together a compelling act) like Athena and Billie Starks along to 'TV' when ready. Clearly, barely anybody is watching this middling show let alone paying for it. It's fucking mindboggling how Athena/Starks, two of their best workers, are kept in obscurity on this lame duck show while the AEW Women's Division continues to struggle. 

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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

It's fucking mindboggling how Athena/Starks, two of their best workers, are kept in obscurity on this lame duck show while the AEW Women's Division continues to struggle. 

No it isn't. Tony Khan doesn't give a shit about his women's division and never has. You are looking from the point of view of someone who does.

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Go2Sleep

Go2Sleep

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On 11/10/2023 at 12:11 PM, Zimbra said:

A special 'most improved' award to Big Bill

Bill was already noticeably better during his time in Impact. I think getting canned by WWE was a big wake up call for him. It's just taken a while to sink in that this isn't the same guy that ran around with Enzo, and now he's actually featured as a champion.

I'd say Skye Blue has shown the biggest talent jump this year. The endless losses to Ruby and Toni didn't make for good tv, but no doubt it's greatly benefited her in the ring.

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HarryArchieGus

HarryArchieGus

Posted
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1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

No it isn't. Tony Khan doesn't give a shit about his women's division and never has. You are looking from the point of view of someone who does.

I disagree completely, but the optics, or results, sure do suggest you're correct. Tony certainly deserves a share of the blame, but so do all the performers making less than the most of their minutes. I sense the poor stories and repetition of said poor stories is a failure shared by both booker and performers alike. It also seems to me that Tony's loyalty to certain performers is clouding his vision concerning who perhaps the best ppl (Willow, Athena, Starks, Toni) are for the limited weekly segments. Tho, Toni's more than likely to be crowned soon, and she has been featured a lot. Unfortunately in a lot of forgettable, and fucking lame, comedy skits. Wednesday's sitdown was absolutely an exception. With Willow, yeah, sure she's on TV, but winning as much as she is losing. Her connection to the audience and more than adequate skillset suggest she's ready for a Hogan/Cena/Austin/Rock rocket. And it's needed more than ever. I think Athena is actually doing exactly what she wants to be doing - working weekly on ROH, but putting her on TV would clearly be a benefit to the company. Starks could use some seasoning, but her ability level and connection exceeds most on TV every week. 

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JLowe

JLowe

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3 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

Bill was already noticeably better during his time in Impact. I think getting canned by WWE was a big wake up call for him. It's just taken a while to sink in that this isn't the same guy that ran around with Enzo, and now he's actually featured as a champion.

I'd say Skye Blue has shown the biggest talent jump this year. The endless losses to Ruby and Toni didn't make for good tv, but no doubt it's greatly benefited her in the ring.

Skye benefitted a ton from the brief house show circuit, where she got to work 15-20 minute matches with Toni.

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Cobra Commander

Cobra Commander

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Posted

wonder if there's still some training wheels in place for the wrestlers AEW didn't hire until they turned 18 (Nick Wayne and Billie Starkz). Nick turned heel and might be the sponge for things that they don't want Christian/Luchasaurus to take. Not sure how much Billie travels for her AEW schedule compared to the others.

the football-inspired phrasing (at least around here) would be "take the diaper off" (this phrase might have only been used by Dick Vermeil in reference to Larry Johnson when they were on the Chiefs)... I could see the argument if they don't want to put too much on really young talent right now

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Casey

Casey

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I really hope the field for the tournament has people we haven’t seen in AEW before (if it’s not just exclusively AEW talent).

But I’d bet money on Suzuki or Ishii being in this thing if they’re available. Because three things are inevitable in life: death, taxes and those two appearing in AEW before almost anyone else from New Japan.

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John E. Dynamite

John E. Dynamite

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46 minutes ago, Casey said:

I really hope the field for the tournament has people we haven’t seen in AEW before (if it’s not just exclusively AEW talent).

But I’d bet money on Suzuki or Ishii being in this thing if they’re available. Because three things are inevitable in life: death, taxes and those two appearing in AEW before almost anyone else from New Japan.

This kind of booking continues to be a burden for AEW. Bringing in storyline-free foreign talent pops the DVDVR and kills live crowds. The tournament should be a celebration of pre-existing talent and a means to push the "everyone is feuding with everyone" territorial-style narrative that TK seems to dig. But there is no room for new talent. Maybe use eatablished special-attraction guys like Ospreay or Vikingo to pretend like that's the scene? 

A Round Robin tournament does fix a big AEW problem in regards to the audience always knowing who's going to win a match. The best thing about the modern G1 Climax is that it provides a context where anybody can beat anybody on any given night (or at least until you get past the Osaka shows).

One of the worst parts of AEW broadcast history was the ROH purchase leading right into the first Owen Hart Cup. You can NOT let this tournament feel as unimportant and labored as that one. It makes the average viewer feel stupid. It is casual kryptonite.

Edited by John E. Dynamite
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A.M.B.

A.M.B.

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Fuck yeah mini G1. At least Alvarez can stop bitching about how they're only having matches for the sake of having matches.

I mean we still gotta see the brackets. If there’s guys like Takeshita missing after beating Omega, meanwhile Jeff Hardy is in the mix like their last world title tournament, it’s just more of the same.

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