The All Elite Wrestling Discussion Thread

[milamber]

- Nagata vs Mox was great but I wish it had gone longer. Surprised it opened the show. It's cool that Narita & Romero were there. Wild Thing!

- Passionate promo from Inner Circle. Good but long-winded promo from Cody. American Dream!

- SCU vs Young Bucks © was great. Love the Bucks going crazy with their ring gear. I popped for the Styles Clash.

- Cassidy vs PAC was great until OC got hurt. Props for salvaging the finish. Hopefully the triple threat goes ahead as planned.

- "Being 5 ain't so bad" lol. The Pinnacle Coronation was fun. Good Dr. Britt interview.

- Rosa vs Allure was a solid squash.

- Miro vs Darby © was my MOTN. Loved the video package. Miro is unleashed!

[evileddie10]

At the risk of this getting too political, I found the Cody promo really tone-deaf, especially the "being confused" about what do during the anthem etc. Plus as a Brit, I would have loved for him to throw it back, and show how the UK is doing terrible itself, being americas bitch in iraq etc. I would have made the generic patriot promo a bit different. This did seem a tad too much Republican saying racism is solved too me. I know there is a fan-theory out there of a slow burn heel turn for Cody, but I just thought this promo was all over the place. Being mixed race asian/white, I did enjoy the second half of his promo a tad more, just for acknowledging how growing up mixed race is a complex experience. Then the cynic in me, realised this was just a way to work in american dream cody rhodes, so he can get the trademark pushed through. But also, I am optimisitc the match will lead to Ogogo being put over as a destructive force as Cody leaves for paternity.

[Jaded]

Cody’s promo was the worst 5 minutes of a wrestling show I’ve seen in ages, and soured me massively on the show as a whole. I really hope this is building up to Ogogo putting him out for a while and him taking 6 months off as paternity leave/to sell the injury because he’s absolutely the thing I get the most bored by in a fed I usually really like.

[Peppermint Rage]

gotta agree with the last too posts, cody's been getting more and more insufferable each week, also I'm sorry, but even in the simplest sense, can wrestling please, PLEASE get away from America vs Somewhere else, it's lazy and uninteresting and done to death. especially if you want to build a worldwide audience. I live in Canada, It's really hard to care about angry UK boxer who generically hates America for no apparent reason vs annoying patriot man. and I actually think both of these guys can be great. Cody desperately needs a heel turn and Ogogo's character needs to be more than I'm from England and America sucks.

[crownsy]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaded" data-cite="Jaded" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Cody’s promo was the worst 5 minutes of a wrestling show I’ve seen in ages, and soured me massively on the show as a whole. I really hope this is building up to Ogogo putting him out for a while and him taking 6 months off as paternity leave/to sell the injury because he’s absolutely the thing I get the most bored by in a fed I usually really like.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I don't get why they are so insistent on Cody as the Face. He's a natural heel. </p><p> </p><p> I thought they were going that way when he was being a dink with the open challenge, building up to a heel turn but instead he's just playing the Dusty hits out here every week. </p><p> </p><p> SAy what you want about the elite, I know they are decisive (I love what they are doing, but know a bunch here don't) but at least they are entertaining. Cody just gets more insufferable </p><p> </p><p> anyone else notice that the more and more elaborate his entrance gets, the more insufferable he is?</p><p> </p><p> He had like a perfect entrance, and now it's just so insufferable as well. from the smoke, to the choir now, to the snoop dogg remix of his theme</p><p> </p><p> I blame the neck tatoo.</p>

[Jaysin]

I wouldn't say the Elite is anywhere near entertaining and haven't been for quite awhile. They're the worst part of AEW and it's not even a competition.

[crownsy]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I wouldn't say the Elite is anywhere near entertaining and haven't been for quite awhile. They're the worst part of AEW and it's not even a competition.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Like I said, I know not everyone agrees with me</p><p> </p><p> But that's just your opinion, I don't share it.</p><p> </p><p> I think we both can agree Cody needs something fresh though, I'm joking for the most part about the neck Tatto (though it's still so awful looking.) but for me that's where the slide started, when he started the whole "FOR THE BRAND!!!!" storyline</p>

[Self]

<p>I know this is probably out-dated thinking at this point, but I don't like the idea of presenting all of the executives of a wrestling show as heels. Perhaps Cody, Omega & the Bucks are better as villains, but in order for the promotion to be a heroic underdog babyface battling the evil empire, surely the public faces of the promotion needs to be babyface too? </p><p> </p><p>

While the Elite's heel antics kinda make me want to see someone beat their asses... I know that I won't get to see that, because they're running the show. Bucks will do their usual flips. Omega will go 20+ minutes kicking out of every move under the sun. I don't see a payoff. So I don't see a reason to watch.</p>

[Peppermint Rage]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I wouldn't say the Elite is anywhere near entertaining and haven't been for quite awhile. They're the worst part of AEW and it's not even a competition.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> the bucks have been fun since they finally committed to the heel turn, Kenny is an over the top madman. they're not my favourite thing on the show, but they're great, Cody on the other hand has been getting harder and harder to enjoy watching each week.</p>

[Jaysin]

the bucks have been fun since they finally committed to the heel turn, Kenny is an over the top madman. they're not my favourite thing on the show, but they're great, Cody on the other hand has been getting harder and harder to enjoy watching each week.

 

Bucks and Omega are just dorks. They're not believable heels to me. They're the guys that get picked on in high school because they're losers. They're also terrible promos. Callis should really give them promo lessons because anytime they talk they just come across like morons playing a character. Omega especially needs to take lessons. You shouldn't bury your opponents in promos because then when you beat them, they weren't anything. And if you lose to someone you buried in a promo, then it just makes you look bad. This is promo work 101. Foley and Jericho have talked about this numerous times over the year.

[Derek B]

I feel like I want to weigh in with some opinions for once. For my perspective, I try to look at things in more of a big picture side of things rather than on a smaller scale. So when I see people being critical of the EVPs of the company, I have some thoughts on that.

 

First of all... Omega, The Bucks and Cody are all better as heels. They all made their name as heels but they were highly entertaining in the environments they were in and won a lot of fan support for the quality of their work that turned them babyface. They then collectively (along with guys like Jericho) used that momentum to help create a company where they HAD to be babyfaces for a while until they could help establish some other babyfaces as credible top guys. They also HAD to use themselves as top draws since it was literally their names at the top of the company and they were the biggest names they had, but they were smart enough early on to take some very important losses to help establish some other names. Adding Jon Moxley bolstered the babyface side of the roster and gave them the freedom to eventually turn heel, while someone like Darby Allin was made with his rivalry with Cody and other people like Hangman Page have been groomed to be top stars in the company. Jericho has also been positioned as a face, who is helping to elevate other talent too.....

 

So NOW the EVPs no longer need to be the good guys... they've helped to create the other top names in the company, can now revert to their more natural personas that got them over.... and those personas were divisive even then. Some people don't like Omega's ring work, and it's fair to say he's not a top tier mic man. But there are a LOT of other guys who are great at that, and they get more time to talk then he does. Cody likes to be over the top dramatic, and some people don't like that... but there are other people who are more down to earth and gritty or more white meat that you can like. Some people think the Bucks are too flippy or whatever, but there are plenty of other teams who are more solid, or younger that you can like.

 

And that's one of the things I think AEW are doing extremely well on the big picture... unlike WWE, they have a range of characters that can appeal to different people. You're not going to like everyone 100% of the time, but if you like SOMEONE on there 80% of the time then that's a really good rate of success. And for the most part, they aren't exposing the weaknesses of the people on screen.... Omega doesn't get huge promo time and has a manager who does more talking for him, while segments in general don't run too long. Cody wrestles a style he's pretty good at and is good at getting emotion into his promos.... sometimes he misses the mark (like this week) but for the most part he's using a WWE style really well within a mostly indy style roster, which makes him relatively unique. The Bucks are undoubtedly the best at what they do, and when they heel it up they can make you want to see them lose.... no doubt many sets of fans will look to the more old school white meat team of the Varsity Blonds to beat them, which is awesome!

 

So overall, I think AEW is doing a very good job at presenting the company as having a mix of characters that can appeal to a lot of people. And they seem to be winning over fans in important demographics, which is very positive. There are plenty of negatives too, with the women's division being a particularly weak point overall so far but I think most of the negatives aren't big picture things.... other than some bad pyrotechnics and some less than flattering camerawork, it's mostly smaller things that can be tightened up with a more experienced staff. And that should come over time too, you can't teach experience... sometimes you just gotta make mistakes and learn from them. As long as those mistakes aren't too frequent (like a certain match ending that didn't work) then the big picture side of AEW looks good to me. Because they clearly have an overall plan, a general vision and are working to make that happen while incorporating whatever changes need to be made along the way.

[milamber]

[crownsy]

I feel like I want to weigh in with some opinions for once. For my perspective, I try to look at things in more of a big picture side of things rather than on a smaller scale. So when I see people being critical of the EVPs of the company, I have some thoughts on that.

 

First of all... Omega, The Bucks and Cody are all better as heels. They all made their name as heels but they were highly entertaining in the environments they were in and won a lot of fan support for the quality of their work that turned them babyface. They then collectively (along with guys like Jericho) used that momentum to help create a company where they HAD to be babyfaces for a while until they could help establish some other babyfaces as credible top guys. They also HAD to use themselves as top draws since it was literally their names at the top of the company and they were the biggest names they had, but they were smart enough early on to take some very important losses to help establish some other names. Adding Jon Moxley bolstered the babyface side of the roster and gave them the freedom to eventually turn heel, while someone like Darby Allin was made with his rivalry with Cody and other people like Hangman Page have been groomed to be top stars in the company. Jericho has also been positioned as a face, who is helping to elevate other talent too.....

 

So NOW the EVPs no longer need to be the good guys... they've helped to create the other top names in the company, can now revert to their more natural personas that got them over.... and those personas were divisive even then. Some people don't like Omega's ring work, and it's fair to say he's not a top tier mic man. But there are a LOT of other guys who are great at that, and they get more time to talk then he does. Cody likes to be over the top dramatic, and some people don't like that... but there are other people who are more down to earth and gritty or more white meat that you can like. Some people think the Bucks are too flippy or whatever, but there are plenty of other teams who are more solid, or younger that you can like.

 

And that's one of the things I think AEW are doing extremely well on the big picture... unlike WWE, they have a range of characters that can appeal to different people. You're not going to like everyone 100% of the time, but if you like SOMEONE on there 80% of the time then that's a really good rate of success. And for the most part, they aren't exposing the weaknesses of the people on screen.... Omega doesn't get huge promo time and has a manager who does more talking for him, while segments in general don't run too long. Cody wrestles a style he's pretty good at and is good at getting emotion into his promos.... sometimes he misses the mark (like this week) but for the most part he's using a WWE style really well within a mostly indy style roster, which makes him relatively unique. The Bucks are undoubtedly the best at what they do, and when they heel it up they can make you want to see them lose.... no doubt many sets of fans will look to the more old school white meat team of the Varsity Blonds to beat them, which is awesome!

 

So overall, I think AEW is doing a very good job at presenting the company as having a mix of characters that can appeal to a lot of people. And they seem to be winning over fans in important demographics, which is very positive. There are plenty of negatives too, with the women's division being a particularly weak point overall so far but I think most of the negatives aren't big picture things.... other than some bad pyrotechnics and some less than flattering camerawork, it's mostly smaller things that can be tightened up with a more experienced staff. And that should come over time too, you can't teach experience... sometimes you just gotta make mistakes and learn from them. As long as those mistakes aren't too frequent (like a certain match ending that didn't work) then the big picture side of AEW looks good to me. Because they clearly have an overall plan, a general vision and are working to make that happen while incorporating whatever changes need to be made along the way.

 

Agree 100%, and said better than I could of Derek

[Jaysin]

Supposedly there's heat between Cody Rhodes and the Elite.

 

The Bucks apparently changed their twitter handle to "currently not on speaking terms"

 

Seems like a storyline building.

[Mootinie]

<p>Ken Shamrock tweeted that he's going to be in Jacksonville for four days starting tomorrow:

</p><div class="ipsEmbeddedOther">

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</div><p> </p><p>

Begin the wild speculation. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[crownsy]

<p>So everyone saw Miz and Priest compete in a major PPV match with Zombies who somehow understood and enforced the rules of a lumberjack match right? including Miz being killed and eaten post match by said Zombies? </p><p> </p><p>

but sure, tell me how Blood and Guts set back the industry 30 years with a wargames match and a poorly shot stunt fall</p><p> </p><p>

As Jericho said, WWE Pot - Kettle - Black much?</p>

[Jaysin]

AEW is far from perfect, but other than Shaq's mysterious disappearance and the god awful Nightmare Collective, they haven't done anything nearly as bad as the zombie nonsense. I am rarely embarrassed over any of my fandoms, but that really is a low point. I didn't think they could sink any lower than that God awful Randy Orton/Bray/Alexa trash but they went ahead and made that stuff look like gold.

[crownsy]

<p>Can't wait for Miz to show up tonight and they just not bother to mention it. </p><p> </p><p>

But I'm sure the movie people paid Vince the equivalent of 10 dollars based on WWE's Annual income, so here we are.</p>

[milamber]

Daniels promo on BTE -

 

Red Velvet promo for the NWA title match against Deeb on Dynamite -

 

Feugo Del Sol promo on Lee Johnson for Dark - https://twitter.com/FuegoDelSol/status/1394384870370168835

[aXminster]

WarnerMedia announced Wednesday that starting in January 2022, AEW Dynamite will move to TBS with the long-touted new hour-long series called AEW: Rampage debuting on TNT on Friday, August 13th at 10 PM Eastern. The show will also move to TBS in 2022, but may not remain on Fridays after the move.

 

As part of the changes, four new annual specials will air on TNT starting in 2022.

 

In a statement to the New York Post, AEW founder, president and booker Tony Khan said, "While we’re looking forward to our arrival on TBS, we’re not saying goodbye to our original and current home of TNT, which will air four new special supercard events annually. Plus, the financial upside to our new agreement will give us the opportunity to continue to invest in and grow AEW to serve the most important people in our industry: our fans, our wrestlers, our staff and our sponsors.”

 

In January 2020, both sides announced an extension through 2023. While no new extension was announced, Dave Meltzer is reporting that AEW is getting a 'significant' amount of money with the changes.

 

That means starting in August, AEW will have two weekly traditional televised products in addition to Dark and Dark: Elevation on YouTube. How the taping schedule goes for all of those shows remains to be seen.

 

In a statement to the Post and The Wrap, TBS/TNT/truTV GM Brett Weitz said the reason for the move wasn't just due to WarnerMedia recently acquiring an NHL rights package that Wednesday nights were previously a big part of.

 

“Both TBS and TNT have an incredibly storied history with wrestling, so the idea of us being able to put more AEW onto TBS is a natural fit. Did the NHL have anything to do with it? Sure. NHL had something to do with it. NBA had something to do with it, the college schedule, the ton of preemptions. When we looked where the consumer’s gonna be, where wrestling fans were going to be, we want to give them the most opportunity to consume as many shows as possible. We felt TBS had an opportunity to be the network and the best platform for expansion," he said.

 

This will be the first time pro wrestling has aired on TBS since 2001 in the dying days of WCW. AEW debuted on TNT with Dynamite in October 2019, the first wrestling show since the final Nitro on March 26, 2001.

[The Swanton825]

An odd choice for a new network. TBS rebranded themselves as a comedy-focused network a few years back. I mean, there's still sports broadcast occasionally but it's never the big or important games.

[crownsy]

An odd choice for a new network. TBS rebranded themselves as a comedy-focused network a few years back. I mean, there's still sports broadcast occasionally but it's never the big or important games.

 

Guessing they wanted a large inhouse coverage Turner network that would have a chance of retaining some of the Demo. Dynamite does great in the demo they want (not as good as the NBA and NHL though)

 

We shall see, at least they get the 4 PPV's a year on TNT still

[Jaysin]

An odd choice for a new network. TBS rebranded themselves as a comedy-focused network a few years back. I mean, there's still sports broadcast occasionally but it's never the big or important games.

 

Prior to WCW's closing there had been wrestling on TBS for 30 years. The move makes sense. It keeps AEW on a Turner network that has a rich wrestling history. WarnerMedia is also reportedly paying AEW upwards of $10million(up to just below $100million, exact number not revealed, just that it's eight digits) for the move to TBS.

 

I'm interested to see if they rebrand the TNT title

[Dalton]

An odd choice for a new network. TBS rebranded themselves as a comedy-focused network a few years back. I mean, there's still sports broadcast occasionally but it's never the big or important games.

 

TBS has rights to some MLB Playoff games and also broadcasts NCAA March Madness games. Those are both big and important.

 

Wrestlenomics (of which I am a member) went deep into this move. Financial gain for AEW of course is too big to ignore. AEW has proven to have an audience that will follow them wherever they go, whenever they are there, as proven by the few moves they've had so far.

 

With AEW's two shows coming to their network, TBS will almost certainly push them as THE show on the network as they are year-round live original programming.

 

Plus, according to Wrestlenomics' sources, TBS skews slightly younger believe it or not.

[milamber]

TBS has 1 million more viewers than TNT but a lower average demo so more of a lateral move. On either network Dynamite is the golden goose and AEW are being paid an 8 figure sum for the move so it's all good.

 

Dynamite looked weak on paper but they did some strong storytelling to build up Double or Nothing. Deeb vs Velvet and Young Bucks vs Varsity Blondes were great.