The All Elite Wrestling Discussion Thread

[djskeemask]

2 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

See, I thought that was fun. I especially loved The People's Court homage.

I know it was kind of corny and predictable, but I still love the match with "20 wins" and powerbombs to each and every one of them. Did those all count towards his AEW W-L record?

[Matt_Black]

Tonight on AEW Dark Elevation (which totally exists despite what some might claim) Marina Shafir cut a... I guess you can call it a "promo", and wrestling Twitter has some thoughts about it.

[djskeemask]

57 minutes ago, Matt_Black said:

Tonight on AEW Dark Elevation (which totally exists despite what some might claim) Marina Shafir cut a... I guess you can call it a "promo", and wrestling Twitter has some thoughts about it.

LOL...I'm glad you finished that thought. My immature brain immediately went to "cut a fart" 🤣

What were the thoughts? I don't care to get on Twitter much

[Matt_Black]

5 hours ago, djskeemask said:

What were the thoughts? I don't care to get on Twitter much

Generally, that it wasn't very good. Also, she was wearing a straw hat at the time, and nothing says "Badass heel" like something from the Hee-Haw wardrobe.

[The Swanton825]

11 hours ago, djskeemask said:

What were the thoughts? I don't care to get on Twitter much

Her promo was so bad that she managed the feat of sharing the ring with Vickie Guerrero yet still be the worst one on the mic.

[djskeemask]

51 minutes ago, The Swanton825 said:

Her promo was so bad that she managed the feat of sharing the ring with Vickie Guerrero yet still be the worst one on the mic.

EXCUSE ME?!?!

[The Swanton825]

26 minutes ago, djskeemask said:

EXCUSE ME?!?!

I know, right? Marina lures you in with a promo that seems like it's going somewhere at first before she loses the plot and, instead of wrapping it up, goes ballistic for no reason at all screaming "YOU DON'T KNOW ME" after spending the whole promo talking about how everyone knows her. Meanwhile, poor Vickie's standing in the corner doing her absolute best to hide how embarrassing the whole segment is.

[djskeemask]

11 minutes ago, The Swanton825 said:

I know, right? Marina lures you in with a promo that seems like it's going somewhere at first before she loses the plot and, instead of wrapping it up, goes ballistic for no reason at all screaming "YOU DON'T KNOW ME" after spending the whole promo talking about how everyone knows her. Meanwhile, poor Vickie's standing in the corner doing her absolute best to hide how embarrassing the whole segment is.

I'm sure she can recover. I mean back when Owen Hart was constantly cutting promos backstage, I can remember at least a handful of flubs and errant messages. He was known for it in my circle of friends. We would actually take bets on whether he would have a clean promo or not. He still became one of wrestling's top talents. Please don't confuse me for saying Shafir is anywhere near Hart's level. Just saying that she can come around.

[The Swanton825]

1 hour ago, djskeemask said:

I'm sure she can recover. I mean back when Owen Hart was constantly cutting promos backstage, I can remember at least a handful of flubs and errant messages. He was known for it in my circle of friends. We would actually take bets on whether he would have a clean promo or not. He still became one of wrestling's top talents. Please don't confuse me for saying Shafir is anywhere near Hart's level. Just saying that she can come around.

I actually almost put in a bit at the end sympathizing with her because I myself cut a ton of bad promos when I tried to wrestle so I know how hard it is to improv a promo in front of a tiny crowd, much less an AEW-sized one. She can totally recover, but I worry she'll try to double down on what's not working instead of moving on. Owen's a great example of that. He'd trip up, brush himself off and try again next time like nothing happened.

[djskeemask]

5 minutes ago, The Swanton825 said:

I actually almost put in a bit at the end sympathizing with her because I myself cut a ton of bad promos when I tried to wrestle so I know how hard it is to improv a promo in front of a tiny crowd, much less an AEW-sized one. She can totally recover, but I worry she'll try to double down on what's not working instead of moving on. Owen's a great example of that. He'd trip up, brush himself off and try again next time like nothing happened.

I am STILL a fan of Owen. If you haven't seen his WWE DVD, it is a great documentary and full of amazing matches.

I am curious about you being a wrestler! I have a few friends that have had some local success. I grew up in the Quad Cities in Illinois. One of those cities is Davenport, where Seth Rollins is from. I didn't know him but it's cool to see someone local make it so far. Another guy that dated my cousin some years ago, "The Natural" Nate Alsin, actually made it onto cagematch.net. Check him out. Can I ask your ring name and where you wrestled? I've thought about spamming the local companies about working for them, not as a wrestler, but pretty much any other role.

I would imagine a smaller crowd would almost be worse than a full arena. A gym/hall crowd of let's say 300 people, everyone is so close to the ring and can see you sweat and probably, with less crowd noise, hear the nervousness and nuances of your voice.

[The Swanton825]

2 hours ago, djskeemask said:

I am STILL a fan of Owen. If you haven't seen his WWE DVD, it is a great documentary and full of amazing matches.

I am curious about you being a wrestler! I have a few friends that have had some local success. I grew up in the Quad Cities in Illinois. One of those cities is Davenport, where Seth Rollins is from. I didn't know him but it's cool to see someone local make it so far. Another guy that dated my cousin some years ago, "The Natural" Nate Alsin, actually made it onto cagematch.net. Check him out. Can I ask your ring name and where you wrestled? I've thought about spamming the local companies about working for them, not as a wrestler, but pretty much any other role.

I would imagine a smaller crowd would almost be worse than a full arena. A gym/hall crowd of let's say 300 people, everyone is so close to the ring and can see you sweat and probably, with less crowd noise, hear the nervousness and nuances of your voice.

I wrestled and managed around Northeast Tennessee, didn't last long though. Probably not even a year total if you don't count the time I left and came back. I had a serious attitude problem back then that didn't do me any favors. I believe the one name I got to stick past a couple of shows was Mike Magnum so there might be a School of Morton video or two of my shoddy wrestling floating around still if you feel like torturing yourself lol.

If you really want to do give the business a try without actually wrestling, I would suggest looking to see if anyone is willing to train you as a ref. Good refs are few and far between so even decent ones are always in demand.

And to keep from going too far off topic, I know he's just a celebrity guest and all who's there to get more eyes on Hook and the product in general, but Action Bronson bragging about going to the effort to train at Create-A-Pro yet had it put in his contract with AEW that he doesn't have to bump rubs me the wrong way.

[djskeemask]

32 minutes ago, The Swanton825 said:

I wrestled and managed around Northeast Tennessee, didn't last long though. Probably not even a year total if you don't count the time I left and came back. I had a serious attitude problem back then that didn't do me any favors. I believe the one name I got to stick past a couple of shows was Mike Magnum so there might be a School of Morton video or two of my shoddy wrestling floating around still if you feel like torturing yourself lol.

If you really want to do give the business a try without actually wrestling, I would suggest looking to see if anyone is willing to train you as a ref. Good refs are few and far between so even decent ones are always in demand.

And to keep from going too far off topic, I know he's just a celebrity guest and all who's there to get more eyes on Hook and the product in general, but Action Bronson bragging about going to the effort to train at Create-A-Pro yet had it put in his contract with AEW that he doesn't have to bump rubs me the wrong way.

It's funny you mention refereeing. That's a job I would love to do. I'm also weird in that I was a 'fan' of certain refs back in the day, or at least knew who most of them were. All the Hebners were like the main eventers of refs in my childhood. Mostly Earl or Dave (twins who used this as an angle to pure gold). To name off some (in no particular order): Brian Hebner, Danny Davis (one of the greatest 'heel' referees), Joey Marella, Tim White, Mike Chioda, Red Shoes Uno (NJPW), Aubrey Edwards (who was also a video game developer!), Nick Patrick, Charles Robinson and we can't forget Jack Doan! I know there is probably more I'm forgetting, but those are the names that are not forgotten in my mind.

I think Hook has a decent following now and doesn't need Bronson to bring in more. TBH, I couldn't care less about Bronson being in AEW. Flash in the pan, especially with a no-bump clause.

[Matt_Black]

Speaking of Aubrey, it never fails to amaze me how over she has gotten with the AEW crowd. Whenever there's a ref bump and a replacement is needed, the crowd immediately starts chanting her name.

[milamber]

Road to Grand Slam Week - https://youtu.be/FHuRfKf1p0Y

[djskeemask]

11 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

Speaking of Aubrey, it never fails to amaze me how over she has gotten with the AEW crowd. Whenever there's a ref bump and a replacement is needed, the crowd immediately starts chanting her name.

I remember first getting into AEW. Aubrey was one of the first things that caught my eye. First, she is fairly attractive and refereeing main event matches. So this obviously made her a senior official. After googling and reading about here 20 years of ballet and 10 years of video game development, I think I developed (pun intended) a little crush. When I use a non-AEW company on TEW, I always hire (or at least try to) in the start. I think she calls everything down the middle and, from what I have googled in the past, she is fairly accessible on social media. In fact, I just glanced at her Twitter earlier and saw a post that made me laugh. I've had the unfortunate conversation with my folks as well. Also, she hosts Unrestricted on AEW's youtube.

https://twitter.com/RefAubrey/status/1572273787965505547?s=20&t=BU_49DZEL_849fehF0P7ZA

[Makhai]

14 hours ago, Matt_Black said:

Speaking of Aubrey, it never fails to amaze me how over she has gotten with the AEW crowd. Whenever there's a ref bump and a replacement is needed, the crowd immediately starts chanting her name.

 

Can you even name another ref in the company. I'm not sure I can... Remsberg still there? 

[djskeemask]

16 minutes ago, Makhai said:

 

Can you even name another ref in the company. I'm not sure I can... Remsberg still there? 

Yeah, I believe so. Along with Rick Knox, Mike Posey, Paul Turner and Stephon Smith

[djskeemask]

I decided to give Dark & Dark: Elevation a chance as I've mostly ignored them completely.

I caught the infamous Marina Shafir interview. I don't think it was THAT bad. I mean it wasn't great, but she did show signs of being able to cut some good promos in the future with some practice. Lose the hat though. She is too pretty for that hat.

I now see what you all see in Matt Menard! Him and Ian Riccaboni have amazing chemistry and I could listen to them call any match. Even a match between Barry Horowitz and Brooklyn Brawler would be tolerable with those two calling it! And you could tell they were having fun and not 'working'.

[Mootinie]

Marina Shafir getting all the hate and Stokely Hathaway getting a free pass for his tedious monologue on Wednesday should tell you everything you need to know about the Dub's basement dwelling online fanbase.

[CQI13]

3 hours ago, Mootinie said:

Marina Shafir getting all the hate and Stokely Hathaway getting a free pass for his tedious monologue on Wednesday should tell you everything you need to know about the Dub's basement dwelling online fanbase.

Given that Shafir's was on Dark, people had to go out of their way to go look at it. Twitter is a race to the bottom. If it was no good, let it be no good for the smallest possible audience, or limit their ability to ad lib until they get good at it. It would probably mean someone would have to help Tony, and it doesn't seem like he enjoys that.

[The Swanton825]

3 hours ago, Mootinie said:

Marina Shafir getting all the hate and Stokely Hathaway getting a free pass for his tedious monologue on Wednesday should tell you everything you need to know about the Dub's basement dwelling online fanbase.

The hate for AEW's women's division in general is excessive. Is it weaker than what some other promotions have? Yeah. Has the booking been consistently lazy for a good long while now? Yeah. But people keep treating everything as "proof" that AEW should dump its women's division entirely when all they need is someone who cares to book it, preferably one not named Khan or Rhodes. Anyone remember when Russo and, later on, Bischoff, booked TNA's X-Division into the ground and people were calling for them to scrap the whole division? Remember when ABYSS was X-Division champ? Bad booking can be fixed by other things than writing off an entire portion of the roster.

Also, in a half-defense of Stokley as meandering as that promo was I still understood the general point he was trying to get across. I'm still trying to figure out what Marina's was. That doesn't mean she can't improve by leaps and bounds. I invite everyone to check out Eddie Guerrero's promos in WCW before he turned heel or He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named's awful promo before his match with Raven at Starrcade 97.

[Jaysin]

Stokely is typically a fantastic talker tho, Marina is just inexperienced. 

I want Marina to do well. I like her outside of the ring. It's hard watching her tho. 

 

[Matt_Black]

Marina Shafir has had more TV time this year than Abadon, and that just doesn't seem right.

[milamber]

6 hours ago, Mootinie said:

Marina Shafir getting all the hate and Stokely Hathaway getting a free pass for his tedious monologue on Wednesday should tell you everything you need to know about the Dub's basement dwelling online fanbase.

Shafir wasn't too bad. She sounded a bit less robotic but it was repetitive and didn't add any value to her character or set up any future intrigue.

I agree it wasn't Stokely's best promo by his usual standards. Felt like someone wrote it for him. However, it did serve a purpose to introduce all of The Firm to the audience (particuarly casuals) and setup their individual intentions. Therefore it was superior to Shafir's promo.

Edited September 21, 2022 by milamber

[Matt_Black]

Interesting. I had a feeling SOMEONE might show up once the four on two beat down started in earnest.