hammerva Posted October 12 Posted October 12 The only match from Mercedes that you can say was bad was Britt Baker which may have been a combination of Britt being hurt/sick and her boo boo face. There have been a few matches against less experienced ones like Julia Hart I feel that were perfectly fine. That being said if she thought she could be the Becky Lynch of AEW it hasn't worked at all in my opinion 2
just drew Posted October 12 Posted October 12 On 10/9/2024 at 9:28 AM, Craig H said: I don’t why people keep expecting Yuta to turn. They’ve given zero reason for it and while Yuta does well as a piece of shit heel, he works well as a fiery babyface. Unless they bring it back to Yuta taking umbrage at Danielson calling Yuta a piece of shit for awhile early on in Yuta's BCC tenure. This Dynamite was really…weird. A lot of promo time given to dudes who haven’t gotten much better at talking, Darby having one of his bad promos, all night long they had people inexplicably changing alliances or alignments. So with this Brody shit, is House of Black done? Is Darby trying to build a group to take on the BCC? Just a weird go home show. He's 1/3 of the Trios champs with PAC and Claudio, for one. For two, Danielson was engaging the crowd instead of helping him from that b eatdown he was taking. 4
JLowe Posted October 12 Posted October 12 On 10/9/2024 at 10:15 AM, EVA said: See, that’s okay because that’s backstory that’s relevant to his character as presented on TV. I just don’t need to hear about how he got the beast man in a death cult his job, or how he’s mad somebody else was handed opportunities because they’re friends with management, etc. AEW needs to retire the “I got you a job here” angles for good, or at least a year or two. 3
JLowe Posted October 12 Posted October 12 On 10/9/2024 at 10:50 AM, Craig H said: I could go for the anti-BCC being Yuta, Darby, Garcia, and, if he’s leaving HoB, Brody. Or just 3 of those guys. Fuck it, bring in Josh Barnett as their mentor and call them Team Bloodsport or something. Yes I would like this very much, although I don’t have strong opinions on the Barnett aspect.
JLowe Posted October 12 Posted October 12 On 10/9/2024 at 8:31 PM, just drew said: I wouldn’t say I’m a huge Anna Jay fan, but she seems vastly improved after her trip to Japan… She’s added like 2 moves to her move set and moves maybe a half-step faster…which yeah, is vast improvement.
Niners Fan in CT Posted October 12 Posted October 12 2 hours ago, tbarrie said: Wait, are you implying that Dave's ratings and the cagematch community's ratings somehow aren't completely subjective? No, my point was that if you are going to say "Mercedes can't work outside of WWE" you are probably in the minority with that opinion but it's still your opinion so it's not really worth me arguing it. If someone only watched her match with Britt or her PPV match with Shida I could see the criticism but that doesn't factor in the entire body of work since her departure from WWE. 1
Niners Fan in CT Posted October 12 Posted October 12 1 hour ago, hammerva said: That being said if she thought she could be the Becky Lynch of AEW it hasn't worked at all in my opinion The booking did her no favors. I know she has some "control" in her creative but they still employ writers that are coming up with ideas and some of them made no sense. Why have her debut in Boston but then wait 6 weeks before her first match? Dave said she wasn't quite cleared, maybe that's true but if you don't have something interesting for someone to do on TV then leave them off until you do. Her feud with Britt was looking like it was going to be great after the first segment but then Dr. Britt got suspended for a couple weeks. People say Mercedes was bad on promos, I think anyone in that situation would have been bad. That's not a defense, that's the truth.. She had nothing to do. We've seen her cut good heel promos before when there's been a direction. I will say, the last couple promos she's done backstage with Renee have been pretty good. They've felt less scripted and just her and Renee fucking around. That's what they should lean into. 1
Leonidas Posted October 12 Posted October 12 Anna Jay got 8 matches in 1 month in Japan, reps are so important for getting better, as well as being out of her comfort zone. So far since returning she's only had 1 match, it's important for her to capitalise on those reps by getting more of them, but this is a problem with AEW in general with younger wrestlers. 4
Niners Fan in CT Posted October 12 Posted October 12 1 minute ago, Leonidas said: Anna Jay got 8 matches in 1 month in Japan, reps are so important for getting better, as well as being out of her comfort zone. So far since returning she's only had 1 match, it's important for her to capitalise on those reps by getting more of them, but this is a problem with AEW in general with younger wrestlers. The roster is too large. ROH helps get some reps but without house shows, there's still not enough shows. 1
JLowe Posted October 12 Posted October 12 2 minutes ago, Leonidas said: Anna Jay got 8 matches in 1 month in Japan, reps are so important for getting better, as well as being out of her comfort zone. So far since returning she's only had 1 match, it's important for her to capitalise on those reps by getting more of them, but this is a problem with AEW in general with younger wrestlers. Exactly. I always point out that Skye Blue had 4 10-12 minute matches with Toni Storm during the brief house show run and was markedly, noticeably better afterwards.
ExcellenceofAirPollution Posted October 12 Posted October 12 My only real complaint about Mercedes right now is Kamille who I don't think is ready for prime time and it stands out being paired with someone so polished. They're going for the HBK/Diesel thing which I'm cool with but 93 Nash had charisma that Kamille doesn't. Maybe she'll improve and grow into the role but it hasn't really been working for me so far I can see the "her work translates better to a face" thing if you didn't watch her in WWE. I quit watching completely in 2020 (other than WM and maybe another sporadic show here and there) but I saw a ton of her from NXT to main roster and she was always better as a heel IMO. She was a heel against Bianca when they main evented WM in what I thought was one of the best women's matches in WWE history. I'd say the problem right now is that she doesn't have good babyfaces to work with but that's more of an AEW problem not having people ready than the roster. I'd have her defending the TBS title and beating someone in 5-6 minutes on Dynamite every other week. I'd have her on TV a fair bit just not in a dedicated feud. I liked the stuff with The Bucks and Okada that they seem to have gone away from. Just do the Jade thing where she clears out the division and is positioned above everyone else while you're building someone up in the meantime. Who that is? What the hell is Athena doing?? Where's Skye Blue? They have talent
Leonidas Posted October 12 Posted October 12 Bring back Dark/Elevation. Buy a 1,000-seat arena and have a full menu of matches every week on YouTube. Or get a travelling circus and tour. The randomness of those shows more than made up for any lack of polish in the wrestling. 2
HarryArchieGus Posted October 12 Posted October 12 The AEW voice over audio production needs some attention. I really like the use of VO for promos, as they've been doing with Baker and Stat etc, but MIXING said audio requires a modicum of focus. And far more than they've been giving it. Whomever is responsible for this, which has always been an issue, should be replaced by somebody that is not so lazy.
HarryArchieGus Posted October 12 Posted October 12 (edited) OR/OC v Bennett/Taven was an excellent opener. Matt/Mike feel like Varsity Athletes at this point, and it's a bit of a shame. Their tag team work is exceptional. This had no heat, but lotsa flow. Man, I miss 'Jane' so much. 'Where is My Mind' by the Pixies is a significant song to me, but not a fan of it for OC. It's always felt on the nose (both as a 'cool' song and the title/chorus, where as the Starship always exemplified OC's idea of 'cool'. Maybe when Danielson retires we can pony up for 'Jane' again? I liked the Mone/Kamille promo that followed. The 'introducing' promo openings feel like really bad comedy. The MxM/Acclaimed angle was tremendous. Great bounceback for the Models. Outside of that atrocious Fashion show segment, Mansoor has been thoroughly impressive in and out of the ring. This match v Acclaimed has no business on a PPV, but I'll look forward to all 4 proving otherwise. The Stat video was a good try, but this is awful. So too Stat's crowd reaction. I hope AEW is learning something from this rotten creative. The Jericho promo was good. I like the mustache. It completes his sleazy 2024 look nicely. Briscoe v Jericho might not be something they should expect the audience to pay to view, but I suspect it'll be a helluva battle. Butcher v Mortos was alottalotta fun as one would expect. This Roddy storyline certainly is odd. Okay, forget any apprehension I may have had, the Jake Roberts/LFI promo sold me. I really hope both Jake and Rush can be consistent characters on the weekly TVs. I ffwd the Archer squash. Archer squashes and Monster squashes in general would be far better served by going over sizeable enhancement talent. At least let the crowd chant 'Meat' or something. Bryan Keith v Romero was a nice showcase for Keith. Very much enjoyed it. The Anna Jay promo featured some Ass talk that I'm not entirely sure served her all that well. Rampage, not bad. Not bad. Edited October 12 by HarryArchieGus 1
AxB Posted October 13 Posted October 13 The thing about wanting Hoss enhancement talent is, there's not that many legit big guys out there on the indies, and the ones who are, might see more value in not doing TV jobs. PB Smooth did one once, and all he got was people mocking his hairline.
SovietShooter Posted October 13 Posted October 13 1 hour ago, AxB said: The thing about wanting Hoss enhancement talent is, there's not that many legit big guys out there on the indies, and the ones who are, might see more value in not doing TV jobs This was something I never understood when I was in the business, while also understanding that it was kind of a necessary evil if you wanted to get the right people looking at you. Almost everyone I knew would've given their left arm to work security for WWE or get squashed in a TNA dark match. Typically the type of fan that would pay cash to attend an Indy show definitely paysattention to that kinda stuff, and no matter what anyone says, it does affect perception. I never thought that was worth the $250 payoff. But, if you don't have a connection to get you in, what else are you supposed to do to be seen?
JLowe Posted October 13 Posted October 13 AEW should talk with Arlington/whoever owns that esports arena where they did the road to All In. Would be a great place to reboot a Dark/Elevation show. Texas has a ton of indie talent for enhancement, you have Dustin and Rosa (at least them) with wrestling schools, and DFW is a huge airplane hub. Or mix it up with there and Daily’s (since a lot of talent lives in Florida/the southeast). Throw in 2300 Arena for the NE and somewhere in Canada or Washington State for the NW. 5
JLowe Posted October 13 Posted October 13 Also, any time they have Emi Sakura back in the States they should set up a 2-3 week training camp with the women (in particular the younger, newer ones but really everyone could be involved and invite some indie talent too) including a dedicated taping or two. 1
SovietShooter Posted October 14 Posted October 14 7 hours ago, JLowe said: Also, any time they have Emi Sakura back in the States they should set up a 2-3 week training camp with the women (in particular the younger, newer ones but really everyone could be involved and invite some indie talent too) This made me remember something I thought of the other day when I was watching Queen of the Villians; For so long the way the WWE/Vince wanted to do things became the standard practice across the business in the US, that no one goes back and looks at why. In Japan, typically the promotions all have a dojo, where they train their prospects the way they want them... the young boys/girls live in the dojos, and they train and train and train, and then when they are deemed ring ready they spend time eating pins as a rookie, then they send them on an excursion, and bring them back, ready to be pushed as part of the regular roster. Why couldn't AEW do something like this? Every year sign ten prospects to $50K contracts or whatever, put them in a dojo for a year. Send them wherever you need them, have the do jobs in squashes, dark matches, whatever. Put Chuck Taylor or someone in charge of the whole program. Have the talent develop relationships with each other and foster a loyalty to the company. 3
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