AEW - SEPTEMBER 2024

[Go2Sleep]

1 minute ago, odessasteps said:

That makes me wonder if part of NXT/developmental should be about teaching people about the out of the ring stuff in the business, like how some sports teams do in the minor leagues. I know one of the things JC did in OVW was to try and teach young guys about money management (ie pay your taxes) and record keeping. 

Should, yeah, but WWE developmental has always been a re-education camp designed to create total loyalty to and dependency on WWE. Even guys from the outside like Joe and Nigel aren't fully de-programmed, but that could be WWE announcing taking that brainwashing to another level.

[odessasteps]

Sounds like what allegedly happened with Quack and the wrestle factory. 

[EVA]

3 minutes ago, Go2Sleep said:

Should, yeah, but WWE developmental has always been a re-education camp designed to create total loyalty to and dependency on WWE.

100%. They don’t train professional wrestlers, they train people to perform WWE-style wrestling.

Teaching them the actual business of being a wrestler might accidentally empower them with a sense of agency in their careers.

[JLowe]

Hi guys!
 

I’ve been way behind and have now finally caught up on two weeks of AEW, not counting last nights Rampage.

There’s a lot to love. The way they’re giving a lot of time and rub to fan favorites like Outrunners and Mortos and MxM (and I guess this Beef guy too, he seems pretty fun). The women’s division booking has been solid even with most of the big names off right now. The OC-Jericho angle. All the various sickos matches. The Conglomeration.

It’s interesting seeing how cold Jack Perry is. Crowds are dead for him, if not giving “go away” heat. Totally killing what was ostensibly the #2 men’s titles. Speaking of The Elite and killing titles, has the tag team title ever been as irrelevant? They have so many interesting teams and the best they can do is keep throwing together teams from factions. Like the Tag Team Casino gauntlet was so fun, and then it’s fucking Ospreay and Fletcher (who I love and who will have a good match but are not a real tag team). They ran Acclaimed into the ground, they turned the Martin Brothers into a late-era WCW joke team.

I am not currently a fan of the Mox thing, but we will see where it goes. I was very glad to see that Shafir did not attempt any throws on Zay against the ring barrier. That was a brutal attack against Private Party, probably the most interesting thing they’ve done since the Hardy Compound cinematic match. Yuta did a good job in his match with Henry in portraying someone conflicted and distracted. Not sure where they go with him, did he ever actually fight against Claudio? And the worthless trios title is also tied up in all this.

Mariah May is great. Pairing her against Yuka Sakazaki is inspired. Aminata being warmed up as well. Plus Skye Blue when she’s healed. New blood is good. Assuming they’re working Hayter through her angle with Saraya and then moving her on to Mone? And when Toni comes back, she would have angles with both champions (assuming Hayter beats Mone).

There’s so much going on with the top of the card angles. Danielson-Nigel, which is more of a sickos thing and actually not of much interest to me. Mox-Darby. Wherever they’re going with Swerve and Hangman. Christian lurking on the fringes with his “don’t call it money in the bank”. Just don’t see any way they have him beat Bryan for the belt, I think at this point he has one loss left and it has to be a passing of the torch.

[JLowe]

On 9/17/2024 at 10:33 PM, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Adam Cole is miscast so badly as a heel. If I were TK, I would turn Strong, Taven, and Bennett on Cole whenever he comes back. 

If I were TK I’d turn them on all Strong, have the Conglomeration save Roddy, and then let Cole, Taven, and Bennett headline NXT.

[JLowe]

On 9/19/2024 at 7:14 AM, StuntmanCrowley said:

I think the MJF drama permanently nuked Wardlow.  Now the rest of his run is on him and badluck/injuries, but i don't think he ever got that momentum back.  He murdered MJF on PPV then three days later MJF is "shooting" on Dynamite and evertone forgot what happened.

At the time, I thought having him stretcher MJF that brutally worked against him as it made MJF somewhat sympathetic (and the crowd reacted that way live).

[Go2Sleep]

Pretty sure Christian's not-MITB contract is just a vehicle for Luchasaurus to turn on him during the cash-in.

[Go2Sleep]

So if Rampage is disappearing soon, what would the ideal send-off matches be? Inuries get in the way of what I think would be the most Rampage-y matches like Butcher and Blade vs. The Outrunners and Skye vs. Nyla on the women's side.

There's the actually good route where you run Hayter vs. Saraya in a vintage Rampage women's hardcore match. There's the comedy route where someone like Bryan Keith wins a battle royal for a title shot "on the next episode of Rampage." In some ways, though, I feel like Rampage would be best embodied with something like GYV going over the Von Erich grandkids in a no-heat, no-doubt match in Fort Wayne Indiana, then never speaking of the show again.

 

[COLETTI]

Blade is just recently recovering from back surgery, hence all the Butcher solo matches. 

[twiztor]

4 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

So if Rampage is disappearing soon, what would the ideal send-off matches be? Inuries get in the way of what I think would be the most Rampage-y matches like Butcher and Blade vs. The Outrunners and Skye vs. Nyla on the women's side.

i'm a big fan of symmetry, so i naturally look back to the first episode and see if there's something we could get to line up:

Christain Cage/Kenny Omega? nope, Omega is out.
Miro/Fuego del Sol? well Miro is asking for his release and i don't know if Fuego is still around, so maybe, but it's unlikely.
Britt Baker/Red Velvet? i guess this is still a possibility since RV has been on ROH lately, but it sure doesn't feel like it symbolizes anything. 

i got nothing. Rampage hasn't been appointment viewing for me since Collision started.

[JLowe]

7 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

So if Rampage is disappearing soon, what would the ideal send-off matches be? Inuries get in the way of what I think would be the most Rampage-y matches like Butcher and Blade vs. The Outrunners and Skye vs. Nyla on the women's side.

There's the actually good route where you run Hayter vs. Saraya in a vintage Rampage women's hardcore match. There's the comedy route where someone like Bryan Keith wins a battle royal for a title shot "on the next episode of Rampage." In some ways, though, I feel like Rampage would be best embodied with something like GYV going over the Von Erich grandkids in a no-heat, no-doubt match in Fort Wayne Indiana, then never speaking of the show again.

 

Butcher and Blade have to be on the last show. I’m great with them putting over Outrunners.

The rest of the show should be women’s matches because that’s what they should feature moving forward 

[HarryArchieGus]

6 hours ago, EVA said:

You can’t help but think that Miro came to AEW with the idea that he would be AEW’s Lesnar (and by all rights, he could’ve been) and proceeded to conduct himself how he viewed Lesnar conducting himself in WWE. Except Lesnar has always had Heyman in his corner, using his acumen for the business to know when to Bigfoot them and when to give a little. Miro just decided to never give and ended up politicking himself out of a job.

Now, instead of potentially returning to WWE as a ready-made main event guy, like Cody did, he’s gonna be right back at the level he was when he left. He created no additional value for himself in 4 years.

Maybe more is confirmed then I'm aware, but it seems like there's a lot of loose lip information masquerading as actual fact. It's completely fair to be disappointed in his run, but is there truly enough known to understand why he didn't work? I've heard the 'he turned down angles' talk from WOR, but is it known what said creative was? Looking at AEW creative's track record with monsters (Hobbs, Wardlow, etc.), it's not that hard to imagine the creative truly wasn't good. On top of that, it seems pretty clear Miro had some pretty heavy life challenges happening during this AEW run. Still, I get the disappointment.

I want to agree with the 'no additional value' line, but just being a guy in AEW makes him more valuable to HHHWWE. His post-Sabian TNT title run showed pretty high level potential. Every time they sporadically brought him in after he was very over with the crowd. I sense, if his heads right, he could end up being a major star for WWE.

6 hours ago, EVA said:

On a related note, how lucky was Mason Madden that he got married to (and then released with) Mansoor, a guy who came up in the mid-10’s indie boom and knew exactly how to leverage the indies to launch the next phase of their careers.

Well said, I know nothing of Mansoor prior to this AEW run, but he's been thoroughly impressive. He allows Madden to look that much better. These guys are the opposite of the lucrative WWE free agent fails being discussed in the thread. I'm happy to see in 2024 that not every WWE release is automatically called a 'WWE Cast-off' like that's the only place who's judgement matters. 

[Casey]

Pretty sure one of the things Miro turned down was being the last man (besides eventual winner Hangman) in the #1 contender battle royale at Rampage Grand Slam 2022.

Edited September 22, 2024 by Casey

[The Natural]

I miss Mark Davis and teaming with Kyle Fletcher in Aussie Open. Mark Davis is coming up to a year out with the wrist injury which happened in Aussie Open vs. FTR at AEW WrestleDream 2023. It's a match which needs talking up more.

Edited September 22, 2024 by The Natural

[The Natural]

2 minutes ago, The Natural said:

I miss Mark Davis and teaming with Kyle Fletcher in Aussie Open. Mark Davis is coming up to a year out with the wrist injury which happened in Aussie Open vs. FTR at AEW WrestleDream 2023. It's a match which needs talking up more.

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.05697095ad6199fe61470b0d28683a14?rik=hAZ5K8iSaWdaLg&riu=http%3a%2f%2fcdn.playbuzz.com%2fcdn%2f44ee1bb6-0850-4a21-9302-475f0e79ae34%2fef26a420-635a-425f-8e8f-d617007802e6.jpg&ehk=QImjHWVJCmoLDnEHEiheTKuBlDhO8HILR2aiyx8Thb8%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0

Whenever I see Mark Davis, I always think of Paddy Considine in Hot Fuzz (2007).

[Technico Support]

12 hours ago, Casey said:

Pretty sure one of the things Miro turned down was being the last man (besides eventual winner Hangman) in the #1 contender battle royale at Rampage Grand Slam 2022.

He also turned down losing in the finals of some world title contenders tournament, but I can’t remember which one.

[RazorbladeKiss87]

2 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

He also turned down losing in the finals of some world title contenders tournament, but I can’t remember which one.

I believe a wise man once said, "If you ain't first, you're last."

[just drew]

As someone who was (somewhat) recently involved in a divorce that I didn't want... you don't always make sound decisions. I wouldn't count on him re-appearing in WWE. I think he might be done. He's already in his late 30's to mid 40's, and hes gotten an acting role here and there. Gotta be shitty to be in a business where everything reminds you of your ex. 

[Casey]

He’s also a property developer or whatever, so he’s probably okay if he doesn’t wrestle again.

[tbarrie]

5 hours ago, Technico Support said:

He also turned down losing in the finals of some world title contenders tournament, but I can’t remember which one.

He did lose to Brian Danielson in the finals of world title Eliminator tournament in 2021. Possibly he declined to do it again later?

[zendragon]

He was supposedly offered Ethan Page's spot in the AEW title shot tournament where Page lost in the Finals to Ricky Starks 

[HarryArchieGus]

Just speculating, but I wonder if his creative refusals had more to do with what happens after the loss than the actual loss. Further, I can't imagine you'd ask for a release from a contract paying you '7 figures' to retire. 

Edited September 24, 2024 by HarryArchieGus

[Technico Support]

15 hours ago, tbarrie said:

He did lose to Brian Danielson in the finals of world title Eliminator tournament in 2021. Possibly he declined to do it again later?

 

4 hours ago, zendragon said:

He was supposedly offered Ethan Page's spot in the AEW title shot tournament where Page lost in the Finals to Ricky Starks 

That was it!  Thanks.

[The Natural]

On 9/15/2024 at 3:37 PM, The Natural said:

I miss Eddie Kingston.

Eddie Kingston update. C&P f4wonline.com:

Eddie Kingston suffered a broken leg, a tibular fracture, a torn ACL, and a strained meniscus at NJPW Resurgence on May 11, 2024, when he was suplexed through a table in a no-ropes Last Man Standing match against Gabe Kidd. It is believed he had surgery in July. He’s hoping to return by May 2025.

When speaking about his recovery on The DAVINci Report, Kingston also expressed frustration with his insurance company.

“It’s been a process. It’s going good until my insurance acts up, and then that’s when I get annoyed,” Kingston said. “Insurance is a fraud, folks. Just throwing that out there.”

Kingston also said he’s starting to get “itchy” now that he’s able to walk and workout more.

“I’m starting to get itchy at home. I’m starting to get like, ‘Alright.’ Because I can walk now a little bit. I can walk, I can lift weights now and I can do squats a little bit, not too low. Now it’s at the point of, ‘Alright, let’s hurry this up, let’s get going.'”

However, one thing Kingston feels grateful for currently is that he’s still financially taken care of while injured.

“There’s days where mentally I’m defeated but there are other times when I go, ‘Look man, I remember getting injured on the indies and not being able to pay for anything.’ I’m blessed to be part of a company that is still helping me out during my injury. I still get those direct deposits, you know what I mean?”

[FourPostMassacre]

I feel like anytime they pitched anything to Miro he didn’t like his retort could have been “I rode a tank to the ring to wrestle John Cena at WrestleMania” and if it was me I’d just be like well you got me there.