AEW - JUN 2021

[Zakk_Sabbath]

3 hours ago, Goodear said:

Miro referring to God in his promos adds a really interesting wrinkle to his presentation

No lie, the first time he did the JC thing I thought it was a rib about the Q-Anon ref getting released. I'm a huge fan of it though, I can't even pinpoint why

[Technico Support]

I never mentioned this in the original thread and just remembered it, but it was cool reading Aubrey Edwards' lips as she calmly but firmly implored Jade to look at the hard cam as she raised her hand after the match.  "Hard cam.  Hard cam's over there."  It was funny because Jade spammed like 26 taunts right at the hard cam during the match itself.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Technico Support

[Goodear]

I don't know if anyone cares but I am retracting the "-1 is really distracting to matches because of his movements" argument I've made before. I've come to the conclusion is that he's drawing the eye just based on standing on the ramp and being on the same physical plane as the ring. This is due to being my focus being drawn to QT Marshall standing on the ramp and that motherfucker barely moves.

I think its due the the ring being shot on the hard camera with no vertical angle. So it can create the optical illusion that the people on the ramp look like they are in the ring.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Goodear

[AxB]

The hard cam only faces the ramp for tapings without fans there, so that'll be a non-problem in like three weeks.

[The Great ML]

Why didn’t THIS Miro debut months ago...he’s terrific.

[EVA]

If you go back to the interviews Khan gave around the time of Miro’s signing, you can kinda see the logic of how they were introducing him.  The idea seemed to be, “We think he can be a top guy, but he was treated as a joke in his last years with WWE, so it’s gonna look bad/not work if we push him straight to the top, instead let’s introduce him in a jokey/midcard angle that feels familiar to fans and gradually build him into the monster over time.”  On paper, it makes total sense.  Of course, then he got in the ring for AEW the first time, and none of what happened in WWE really mattered anymore.  His physicality and aggression were on another level from pretty much everybody else in the company, and people seemed ready to buy what he was selling instantly.

Edited June 10, 2021 by EVA

[Jiji]

Miro and Darby are the top AEW guys. Everybody else is fighting it out for third place. Kenny is still GOATed at the epics but without Okada as a foil, it's not the same. I'm glad he's getting his top guy run though and the matches have been great aside from the wet fart explosion. I need Miro vs. Samoa Joe. Gimme a lethal dose of that shit right there. 

[zendragon]

Miro invoking God is like a combination of Robert Mitchum's Preacher in Night of the Hunter and Fedor. just fantastic stuff really menacing.

 

I actually like the Factory vs Family feud in concept cause I think AEW does a pretty good job of pairing up veterans and rookies but the execution has been clunky as hell

[Goodear]

10 hours ago, EVA said:

If you go back to the interviews Khan gave around the time of Miro’s signing, you can kinda see the logic of how they were introducing him.  The idea seemed to be, “We think he can be a top guy, but he was treated as a joke in his last years with WWE, so it’s gonna look bad/not work if we push him straight to the top, instead let’s introduce him in a jokey/midcard angle that feels familiar to fans and gradually build him into the monster over time.”  On paper, it makes total sense.  Of course, then he got in the ring for AEW the first time, and none of what happened in WWE really mattered anymore.  His physicality and aggression were on another level from pretty much everybody else in the company, and people seemed ready to buy what he was selling instantly.

I understand the concept in theory but in practice it seems as though they wasted six months doing things that outsiders identified immediately as non starters. The association with Kip (outside of the Best Man moniker) and the video games ultimately didn’t catch on at all and have been almost completely forgotten. They could have slow burned a heel run by having him go through the undercard baby faces systematically and decisively like they are doing now. Clearly that works. He would have just been building momentum against Uno and Dante Martin to get to Darby rather than doing it after.

[punkenhead]

Is it crazy that I am legitimately worried about what happens to Fuego Del Sol when AEW goes back on the road full time?

While I am in sympathetic mode, I went from "Hell yeah, Zicky Dice!" to "Oh no, Zicky Dice" in the span of about 34 seconds. 

[EVA]

Fuego seems to be well liked/respected by a lot of key people in the company.  I’m sure he’ll be taken care of.  Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was already signed and they’re just keeping it quiet because it’s good for his character.

[Goodear]

I assume all of this attachment to Fuego Del Sol comes from the Sammy Vlog? His performances in ring have been pretty generic undersized wrestler stuff from what I've ever seen from him.

[Ace]

I expect Fuego to finally win his way into the Nightmare Family on Sammy's vlog, so he can tag with his "dad", Dustin.

 

[The Green Meanie]

On 6/9/2021 at 7:07 PM, twiztor said:

my current "tune out" list:

Jericho/Inner Circle in non-wrestling roles

Young Bucks matches

QT Marshall segments of all kinds

Matt Hardy/Private Party 

 

on the cusp:

Cody promos (i pay attention the first minute or two)

the Jerks (gonna need some real forward motion, and soon)

 

stuff i want way more of:

Hangman Page

Thunder Rosa

Jungle Boy

FTR

Santana & Ortiz

Christian

 

This is a fun discussion starter, I'll give my list:

Tune Out List:

Young Bucks
Swole/Red Velvet constantly dancing
Shida
Shawn Spears
Serena Deeb
Cody promos
Anything Matt Hardy related (minus Angelico and The Butcher)
Ethan Page/Scorpio Sky

Stuff I need way more of:

Dark Order
Hangman Page
Chaos Project
Taz and/or Ricky Starks on commentary
Jericho on commentary
Abadon
The Wingmen
The Acclaimed
Wacky "local talent" wrestlers
 

 

[caley]

 

Tune Out:
-Chris Jericho: Up until late last year, I hadn't fast-forwarded anything (Though I usually watch while doing something else, so I do FF picture-in-picture because too small and there's no commentary to clue me in when to look up at important stuff) but last fall, around the time MJF joined the Inner Circle, Chris Jericho became complete tune-out for me. His promos, his town halls, his parleys, his celebrations etc. etc. His entrance with fans singing his music went from "Hey that's kinda neat, look how happy he is" to reminding me of whenever Hulk Hogan comes back to WWE and they give him a big ovation and he shakes his head like "I'm so modest" but is clearly doing it to get people to cheer more. Also, he's been a bad heel for the past half a year or so, not even really trying to act heel-ish, still trying to get cheered. But that was nothing compared to fake tough guy face Chris Jericho wearing prison jumpsuits. Whenever he says "My Jerkoff Friend" to almost no reaction, I absolutely cringe; reminds me of when Rick Steiner had the catchphrase "If you want some, come get some. If you don't like me, bite me" and would say it every week after every match.

-Cody: I'm trying man but...no.  This Nightmare Factory feud has some really interesting stuff: I love factions of young wrestlers who've been held down and Comarato (sp?) and Ogogo are both super-interesting prospects with tons of upside (The only thing I've seen Solow do is interfere and get beaten up) but the whole Cody-QT angle is bad and boring. It would be like John Cena feuding with Matt Bloom (Oh wait...they did do that didn't they?!), no matter how many attempts they make to justify the feud ("He said QT worked with them every day but Cody never came by!") it's just not doing it. But I put Cody alone here, because he's really done nothing of interest in the better part of a year: half-hearted feud with Brodie; half-hearted semi-feud with Darby; baby announcements disguised as wrestling promos. I think he should move back into a main event feud. I'd love to see Omega, the Bucks and the Good Brothers destroy him and his pals, leading to Omega petitioning to lift the stupid "I'll never wrestle for the world title again" stip and feud those two. As much as I don't care for Cody, the crowd sure does, and they want to see him go after the World Title.

On the Cusp:

-Britt Baker: Heresy, I know, but I have no desire to see her in her current character as a face. Sarcastic, arrogant heel who gets her comeuppance and cheats her way out of matches? Great. Sarcastic, arrogant face who defeats her opponents while the crowd laughs along with her? No bueno.

-Don Callis: Also heresy, but I've never been a fan of his. I preferred Joel Gertner's one-dimensional sex jokes over Callis as colour commentator in ECW. Don't care for his commentary in ROH, Impact or in AEW and I don't really care for his character in AEW. I've just always felt his delivery in everything comes off tongue-in-cheek like I never really believe anything he says and his entire AEW character is just an out for Omega to cheat in matches and so JR can resuscitate his Paul Heyman insults from the past "He's a boil on the ass of life!" Oh haha JR, we haven't heard you use that one ten million times!!

-JR: I've actually felt like he's been a little more tolerable lately but I almost think he would be better doing half the show on commentary or maybe bring him out just for the main event, like how Michael Buffer used to come out to ring announce the main event on Nitro. Make him more of a special attraction announcer.

More please:

-The Butcher: I don't care if he's middling in the ring, I want to see him every week. I think he needs to go solo, become muscle for hire, or team up with Comorato in a big, mean, tough tag team because the Butcher and Blade tag team is kinda buried in the way that they never ever really win anything important. 

-The Bunny: I like her current character and I think she's fun to watch. I know The Blade is her husband, but I don't really think their onscreen pairing works. She'd be great as a heel valet/partner for someone a little higher up the ladder, plus it would give JR a chance to shout "Jezebel!" at her.

-Tazzz: He's a fun announcer in that he's not terribly polished and goes off on strange tangents. But he also does a really good job getting storylines and feuds across. He's pretty much the only announcer I've heard who's been able to perform in the role of Commentator calling matches of his team members while showing bias but not being overly annoying doing so. I was completely checked out on his WWE and Impact announcing, but I really feel like he's struck just the right balance in AEW. I also think Team Taz needs a title run (Hobbs and Cage with the tag titles?) to get them a little more prestige because they're an entertaining group (Please don't split Cage off from them yet) but they lose too much. The Bucks don't really need the titles in their current role (And if they did, you could just give them the Impact tag titles) and I think Hobbs and Cage could be fun defending them against, say, Top Flight.

-Max Caster: Feels like I haven't seen him on Dynamite in forever...he's a little too green for a title, but there's no reason they couldn't feud The Acclaimed with Best Friends to get them all some TV time. Just...don't get Trent and Chuck to rap back at them. I'm still cringing from Frankie Kazarian's terrible rapping earlier this year...

[DangerMark]

2 hours ago, caley said:

-JR: I've actually felt like he's been a little more tolerable lately but I almost think he would be better doing half the show on commentary or maybe bring him out just for the main event, like how Michael Buffer used to come out to ring announce the main event on Nitro. Make him more of a special attraction announcer.

I just wanted to point out that every time I saw Michael Buffer do ring announcements for WCW, he biffed at least one name. Nothing says Gravitas like getting a guy in who won't get people's names right.

[AxB]

So exactly like JR then?

[caley]

1 hour ago, DangerMark said:

I just wanted to point out that every time I saw Michael Buffer do ring announcements for WCW, he biffed at least one name. Nothing says Gravitas like getting a guy in who won't get people's names right.

"Breeeeet Hiiiiiitmannnnn Claaaaark"

But it still felt like a big deal when you saw Buffer in the ring to announce the main event, even if the match almost never delivered.

Does anyone remember the astronomical dollar figure that Buffer was making to (flub) those Nitro Main Events. I remember the number just blowing my mind when it was reported.

[Shartnado]

6 hours ago, caley said:

"Breeeeet Hiiiiiitmannnnn Claaaaark"

But it still felt like a big deal when you saw Buffer in the ring to announce the main event, even if the match almost never delivered.

Does anyone remember the astronomical dollar figure that Buffer was making to (flub) those Nitro Main Events. I remember the number just blowing my mind when it was reported.

I could be totally off base, but I remember reading Buffer got 30 grand a pop.

[The Natural]

Made me chuckle.

[Ryan Faulconer]

AEW has hired, employed or leased just a little more than thirty new restless since last August.  I use those parameters because it was just around early August of 2020 that I decided to dedicate a majority of my wrestling habits towards AEW.  That was also around that time that I fired up the Fire Pro World and attempted to run a strictly AEW promotion.
 

During this time a certain one “Pretty” Peter Avalon went from the underdeveloped Librarian gimmick to becoming the leader of The Wingmen.  The Wingmen have already evolved in a short time into the DadsThat Club…Club.  They will turn babyface if they do their shtick out in front of the live crowds.  The Acclaimed will probably turn before The Wingmen due to seniority.  Neither act should turn for at least six months, preferably a year.

This started out as a simple FYI regarding the thirty or more full timers they have acquired in a little less than a year.  People say AEW has a bloated roster.  I would argue that the company now has some decent depth from which to draw from.  Coach Tony K doesn’t want wrestlers to be as badly overused as the WWE usually would on Mondays and Fridays. On Dark they say that Jungle Boy has worked more than anyone else on the entire roster.  The loyal viewers who watch Dynamite exclusively would be pretty shocked to hear that.  Maybe the Trios Titles can fix a problem 

I am a huuuge proponent of using multi-man tag/6/8/10++ matches to preserve singles matches for bigger stakes later on.  AEW doesn’t need to go full CMLL or even the way New Japan gets around that problem.  They can go into the tags with a plan for showcasing matchups.  When they establish one or more issues  that is packaged with action from others in the match AEW will avoid the doldrums of undercard tags from New Japan or the better years from All Japan…hopefully.  Thusly!  AEW will have enough wrestlers to warrant the added title and/or philosophy.

[Eoae]

17 hours ago, Shartnado said:

I could be totally off base, but I remember reading Buffer got 30 grand a pop.

Yeah, supposedly his base appearance fee was $30,000 back then.  Bischoff and Tony Schiavone have both claimed he had a few extras written into his contract, like an extra $5,000 every time he said "Let's get ready to rumble".

$30,000 isn't that excessive.  Buffer himself has said that he typically gets $25,000 - $100,000 for appearances. 

[John E. Dynamite]

Thank God the Buffer market's been diluted since then.

[John from Cincinnati]

Now I want to know about the bag he got for his two scenes in Burton's Dumbo. 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by John from Cincinnati

[AxB]

16 minutes ago, Eoae said:

Yeah, supposedly his base appearance fee was $30,000 back then.  Bischoff and Tony Schiavone have both claimed he had a few extras written into his contract, like an extra $5,000 every time he said "Let's get ready to rumble".

$30,000 isn't that excessive.  Buffer himself has said that he typically gets $25,000 - $100,000 for appearances. 

He gets $50 every time ANYONE says Let's Get Ready to Rumble on TV, anywhere in the world.