All Elite Wrestling

[Evil Vito]

lol @ anyone taking Chris Jericho's Twitter seriously

[Evil Vito]

Or anyone's Twitter at all, for that matter. It's unfortunate Musk hasn't managed to send it into the ether yet.

[xrodmuc316]

FEDBAD, TINY GOOD!!!

Sounds like Jake the Snake got the email directive :rofl:

"They're completely two different animals, they really are," Roberts said. "Vince was a guy that surrounded himself with people that knew what the f*** to do whereas Tony Khan already knows what the f*** to do. He's much wiser, as far as the wrestling business goes, way more than Vince McMahon. He can quote you stuff from 30 years ago, brother. He'll give it to you, move by move."

Read More: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1184197/jake-roberts-on-how-tony-khan-is-wiser-than-vince-mcmahon/


"The worst was probably Kamala, who desperately needed help," Roberts said. "He made Vince McMahon a lot of f***ing money. For Vince not to reach out and try to help him — now I do know that Vince helped Scott Hall, but he didn't help Kamala and that just rubs me the wrong way."

[Mr. Nerfect]

lol @ anyone taking Chris Jericho's Twitter seriously

No one takes Chris Jericho’s Twitter seriously. In fact, no one takes Chris Jericho seriously at all.

Social media could be such a useful tool. Very few people have worked out how to use it though.

[slik]

Forgot some of these people were on the roster tbh

https://www.allelitewrestling.com/aew-roster

[Mr. Nerfect]

Booker of the Year. Although it’s possible their website just hasn’t been updated since August.

[Vastardikai]

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/C9PJPtNerVdrsirnOqML1FOyaQU=/1400x788/filters:format(png)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24403204/Fn7cHbiXEAAnMRc.png

A gigantic man is sucking the life force of a guy who smells a fart, a dude who saw his first naked lady, a guy who would rather be riding a tank right now, a dude I wouldn't trust around small children, and some dude whose face looks like it is poorly photoshopped onto his own body.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I can’t recognize some of those people and it looks like an advertisement for a terrible gay porno. AEW sucks.

[xrodmuc316]

FEDBAD HUNTERBAD CIAMPABAD AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

sgbRTZ3-pPw

[Mr. Nerfect]

FTR have jumped the shark with me. I don’t know when it happened, but it was before the Double Dog Collar. They’re talented guys, you just don’t care because…AEW.

[XL]

Are you two breathing fumes as well as running on them?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wrestling’s in a deep hole it is going to have a lot of trouble climbing out of, dude. Deal with it.

[xrodmuc316]

Are you two breathing fumes as well as running on them?

Pretty sure the AEW wrestlers are the ones that suddenly started going full FEDBAD again. One FEDBAD out of nowhere might not have caught my attention, but between Vickie and Jake and Jericho and FTR, well sticking with your analogy, where there is smoke, there is fire.

I have long believed that at best it was AEW employees complaining about WWE to keep their manchild cashcow boss happy enlugh to keep writing checks, and at worst they are doing FEDBAD on his direct orders.

Either way, the sudden increase in frequency certainly feels like their boss reminded them to get out there and bury The E as much as possible, no matter how ridiculous the reason.

[ron the dial]

you are the dumbest motherfucker

[Sepholio]

You just made Stickman a happy lady

[xrodmuc316]

you are the dumbest motherfucker

Or you are just too biased to see the truth. None of the recent FEDBAD complaints make any sense unless you badly want to believe FEDBAD, logic be damned.

[ron the dial]

am i biased? can you back that up with anything?

[ron the dial]

if you can find me FEDBADDING as much or more than i LOLAEW i'd love to see it

[xrodmuc316]

am i biased? can you back that up with anything?

I would point to your previous point. Who gets that upset over a wrestling forum post?

[ron the dial]

am i upset? or just pointing out how much of a dumb motherfucker you are?

[Sepholio]

<div class="tenor-gif-embed" data-postid="24557919" data-share-method="host" data-aspect-ratio="1.49533" data-width="50%"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/gotcha-funny-gif-24557919">Gotcha Funny GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/gotcha-gifs">Gotcha GIFs</a></div> <script type="text/javascript" async src="https://tenor.com/embed.js"></script>

[xrodmuc316]

if you can find me FEDBADDING as much or more than i LOLAEW i'd love to see it

Getting upset over me pointing out AEW doing FEDBAD is pretty much the same as doing FEDBAD yourself.

I can't point out clear FEDBAD without you defending FEDBAD, because FEDBAD!

You can't even defend your position, other than name calling. That is not an argument Ron, that is you getting emotional for no other reason than I questioned the motive of what the AEW employees are saying.

[ron the dial]

like your buddy noid said i'm not here to discuss things with you baby boy

[xrodmuc316]

am i upset? or just pointing out how much of a dumb motherfucker you are?

LOL I don't know, you just positive repped me about the Last of Us yesterday, you agreed with me then. Maybe it has nothing to do with me, but your bias towards FEDBAD, hmmmm? :yes:

[ron the dial]

but i've never said FEDBAD? nor is that how i feel anymore strongly than AEWBAD? just keep creating the narratives my dude.

[ron the dial]

i just like to have fun with wrestling not turn it into a fucking nightmare GOTCHA past time to make myself feel good

[XL]

That FTR video is barely even critical of WWE or HHH. It’s just one dudes take. He goes out of his way to say that they were presented on par with “HHH Guys” despite not being “HHH Guys” themselves.

You can overblow the level of FEDBADing going on and have Noid jump in to indirectly back it up despite not watching the video himself but then your bias might show a little too much.

[xrodmuc316]

but i've never said FEDBAD? nor is that how i feel anymore strongly than AEWBAD? just keep creating the narratives my dude.

You say that, but explain getting so fired up about it that you needed to personally attack me, not attempt to refute the points, but reacted quite emotionally over my interpretation of AEW employees going out of their way to complain about WWE.

Triple H asked how Ciampa was doing after an injury, but did not ask FTR bald, because god forbid Triple H doesn't have the exact same personal relationship with two different people. Nevermind he is talking about something that happened 6-7 years ago, when it is time to put out more FEDBAD content, there is no timeframe, just get the story out!

[xrodmuc316]

That FTR video is barely even critical of WWE or HHH. It’s just one dudes take. He goes out of his way to say that they were presented on par with “HHH Guys” despite not being “HHH Guys” themselves.

You can overblow the level of FEDBADing going on and have Noid jump in to indirectly back it up despite not watching the video himself but then your bias might show a little too much.

And like I said, the oddity is the sudden frequency at which AEW people are again complaining about random stuff from the other company.


Either way, the sudden increase in frequency certainly feels like their boss reminded them to get out there and bury The E as much as possible, no matter how ridiculous the reason.

[ron the dial]

oh my GOD you are fucking stupid

have fun!

[xrodmuc316]

oh my GOD you are fucking stupid

have fun!

So you can't admit you responded overly emotional for no logical reason, so just double down. When I say something you agree with, I am good. When I say something you disagree with, well Fuck My Stupid Self. Good argument Ron

[ron the dial]

i've called you stupid many times before this. so you said one thing i didn't consider yesterday. broken clock, twice a day, you get it.

[ron the dial]

"emotional"

[xrodmuc316]

Name calling is not a cheat code to win an argument, it is a signal that there can be no respectful discourse. So be it.

[ron the dial]

i'm not trying to win an argument you dumbass

[xrodmuc316]

i'm not trying to win an argument you dumbass

Nope, you just want to defend AEW. I am sure Tony Khan will send you a thank you note.

[ron the dial]

have i defended AEW? or just called you a stupid motherfucker? are you capable of basic comprehension? you keep trying to make this an argument it isn't.

[ron the dial]

you're an obsessive little weirdo and i'd call you the same if your obsession was with vince or anyone else/any other promotion. nothing to do with TK or AEW.

[xrodmuc316]

have i defended AEW? or just called you a stupid motherfucker? are you capable of basic comprehension? you keep trying to make this an argument it isn't.

Technically you defended AEW personnel's shitty FEDBAD takes as not having any possibility of being fake and just them complaining at the behest of their boss. You failed to explain that whatsoever, and just responded by hurling insults.

I say they are complaining to complain, time to put new FEDBAD out there, and not because it is genuine.

You I assume disagree, but again I am just going by your emotional insult replies. I am meeting you more than halfway though, because you are right, you have not actually said anything to articulate the cause of your anger. Maybe you are not mad and defending AEW, maybe you just do not understand what has you so impassioned to come to their aid with somebody (me) questioning the reason for the renewed FEDBAD complaints being made.

[ron the dial]

consider this is me calling you a dumb motherfucker for cumulative reasons and not just this one instance? like i'm the boiler in the shining and i can let that pressure build but sometimes i gotta let some steam out or the whole building will explode?

[ron the dial]

you're an obsessive little weirdo and i'd call you the same if your obsession was with vince or anyone else/any other promotion. nothing to do with TK or AEW.

[Sting Fan]

Good to see AEW doing house shows. feels like another good step to increasing the brands reach, testing new markets etc. I'm a bit surprised it took this long but I assume the pandemic era played a part in the delay.

I will be curious to see what sort of cards they offer and if its a development type roster doing the House shows or some upper talent. With the roster depth they have you could certainly have your stars work shows and still have a lightish schedule.

Makes my chances of seeing them in person higher next time in the U.S. which is cool for me.

[Lock Jaw]

but i've never said FEDBAD? nor is that how i feel anymore strongly than AEWBAD? just keep creating the narratives my dude.

but i've never said FEDBAD?

FEDBAD

https://i.imgur.com/DAyRhLO.png

[Sepholio]

King ron out here making thick in xrods warm

[ron the dial]

lolllllllllllll those vickie guerrero posts were fake

[Sepholio]

The Internet: https://i.imgur.com/DAyRhLO.png

[#1-norm-fan]

Yeah but she still killed Eddie and then desecrated his grave just to FEDBAD.

[XL]

Sounds like Jake the Snake got the email directive :rofl:

I concede this is just a ridiculous take from Jake “The Bad Take” Roberts. Even in a best read of this, Khan has the benefit of seeing everything WWE/Vince have done for 30 years and you’re able to learn from what worked and what didn’t and what choices you’d make that differed. It’s not like Tony is this wrestling savant (although he is clearly on the spectrum) and is Booker of the Year (obviously).

[#1-norm-fan]

Saraya tweeted a picture of herself wearing an Office “Prison Mike” shirt and Ringside News called her out for it as it was obviously a FEDBAD.

Cumdorx is running Ringside News.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If Jake has said it then you know it can’t be true.

[Volare]

I came back just for this feud.

[xrodmuc316]

If Jake has said it then you know it can’t be true.

Jake also recently said Kenny Omega is better than Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels ever were, because you know, Tony said more FEDBAD, and Jake likes his paycheck.

[Vastardikai]

I hope it's paycheck. Otherwise, DDP May have to go get him again.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don’t understand how AEW could fuck up this MJF/Bryan Danielson story so bad.

[Lock Jaw]

I don’t understand how AEW could fuck up this MJF/Bryan Danielson story so bad.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fn-R3u5XoAArGks.jpg

[Lock Jaw]

Just found out that Orange Cassidy is an AEW Champion, holding a belt I never heard of, and that he beat PAC for it.

I get that it is a tertiary title that isn't important at all, but.... don't make a guy like PAC hold it in that case, and certainly don't make him lose to Orange Cassidy.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Don’t worry, they’ll make up another new belt and put it on PAC shortly.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’ve never understood the “Orange Cassidy draws and sells merchandise” argument. They’re getting <1 million viewers and have sold maybe a few thousand t-shirts. That sort of shtick caps your audience. For everyone that eats up the act, there are 9 people who remember why they don’t waste their time with wrestling.

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW should just have a singles, tag and women’s title. The All-Atlantic, TNT, TBS and six-man can be binned and no one would be hurt.

If you want to spotlight shitty tags, run a six-man tournament every year. Done.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Skeptical of AEW doing house shows. They have a lot of talent that needs to get better, but I’m not sure they only need reps. They might need an entirely different environment to change how they think about wrestling. You might have more injuries and they may chew up some of their markets. There aren’t exactly deep reservoirs of fans willing to go to these shows — it’s the same people, hence why they can only run some markets once a year.

That being said, if Jeff Jarrett’s booking them and they end up as their own little universe, they could be better than AEW proper. It wouldn’t surprise me if when Tony Khan has a mental breakdown, Jeff Jarrett ends up running the whole show. That’s if he doesn’t make himself too many political enemies before then by outshining AEW.

[Lock Jaw]

AEW should just have a singles, tag and women’s title. The All-Atlantic, TNT, TBS and six-man can be binned and no one would be hurt.

If you want to spotlight shitty tags, run a six-man tournament every year. Done.

Granted I don't watch, but I do like the concept of a secondary title for the men. Women certainly don't need two belts.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I just can’t wrap my head around what that belt means in kayfabe. Like…what is it? It’s helped absolutely no one. If you didn’t have it, there might be more of a need to push some of the guys you’re trying to placate with it up the card. Darby may not feel so stale, Joe could be cutting money promos, etc. It boxes you in more than it opens you up.

Cody wanted something. Righto, give him a tournament win. Their equivalent to a King of the Ring. He can be awarded a belt for that. He could have won it in 2019 and 2020 to establish it, put over Darby in 2021 and Wardlow could have won it last year. That would probably have helped out those guys more than being TNT Champion does/did.

[Mr. Nerfect]

You can book a secondary title well, obviously. But they don’t and they won’t, so it’s just a pragmatic thing to get rid of it. But the concept of the belt was just so…arbitrary to me. Like they felt like they had to create something because hardcore fans are marks for the IC Title still.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It also doesn’t help that they’ve used other companies’ belts on their TV too, diluting things even more. You had the Impact World Title floating around there for a while. I’m not sure if he’s using it on TV, but Omega is also the IWGP US Champion. It’s going to be a barrier of entry for some people, because it’s just too much. Championships should make your product easier to navigate, not harder. “Oh, that guy’s a champion, he must be a really good wrestler.” You’ve got 8 men’s slots for ROH (too much), 8 for AEW and the IWGP US takes that up to 17 fucking men’s belts. And then you’ve got to factor in that opens up the rest of New Japan’s belts too. Yuck.

Get rid of TNT, ROH TV, ROH Pure (use Pure Rules as a gimmick sometimes), all six-man belts. Unify the AEW and ROH Women’s and just call it the “Women’s World Championship.” TBS goes bye-bye. As funny as it sounds, I’d hear out keeping the All-Atlantic as something to defend at the house shows. Just get it off Orange Cassidy. MAYBE recognize the IWGP US as part of your New Japan partnership, because it’s a regional US Title and that can sometimes give you a bonus PPV title match or something.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’d honestly consider bringing the AEW and ROH Tag Titles together too. And the World Titles for that matter. Honestly, why are they even doing ROH? There no reason for Tony Khan to have two wrestling promotions. His purchase of ROH should lead to a unification.

[Lock Jaw]

That's why I said I like the concept of a secondary title. I guess secondary titles haven't actually meant squat anywhere for quite some time....

I'm stuck living in the past thinking about guys like Rock/Austin/HHH fighting and feuding over the IC belt and being built up big before moving up to the next level.

[Mr. Nerfect]

WWE’s done fine with theirs. They’re trying, and have been for a long time, even if cynical snarks want to deny it. Gunther seems to be en route to legit being one of the more accomplished IC Champions ever. It’s just not realistic to put a secondary belt on a guy and go “see, he’s going places” if you don’t actually send them places, which is the problem with AEW. They think there’s something magic about holding gold because of the belt mark mentality.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don’t think it’s a coincidence Adam Page decided to sabotage CM Punk when he was set to lose the belt, and Britt Baker unleashed the harpies on Thunder Rosa once she was champion.

[xrodmuc316]

The TBS title is the worst one. They made it because WBD had them switch networks, that is it! Then they put it on the female who looks like an absolute killer. Instead of her wanting to go after the main Women's title, her character is undefeated, dominate, and just happy to have a meaningless title.

They have the AEW title, TNT title, TBS title, All Atlantic title, tag titles, trios titles, FTW title, Dynamite Diamond Ring, Men's Owen Hart tournament champion, women's Owen Hart tournament champion, Casino Ladder Match winner, Casino Battle Royale winner, plus 5 additional AEW roster members who are ROH champions.

That is WAY too many accolades. How can they expect the audience to care about any of those when 60% of the people on the show all have some kind of title?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Oh wow, I forgot all about the FTW Title.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Maybe they should just double-down and create a set of FTW Tag Titles for Hook & Jungle Boy. Start up a whole new promotion around the concept: Famous Tony’s Wrestling.

[Sepholio]

Jungleboy and Hook are done now though from what I heard. Hook will prob move onto someone else for the next month so TK can come up with some new HOOK_______ name for him and then have him disappear for several months again before coming back to form _______HOOK with yet another person. Rinse, repeat.

[Sepholio]

Member when they teased Hookhausen for months and finally Danhausen won him over and they came together and everyone loved it and then Hook randomly disappeared and came back and was suddenly in Junglehook and apparently has nothing to do with Danhausen for no apparent reason now?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Is Danhausen still around, or is he being punished for being Punk’s pal? But yeah, more masterful storytelling from AEW.

[xrodmuc316]

Jungleboy and Hook are done now though from what I heard. Hook will prob move onto someone else for the next month so TK can come up with some new HOOK_______ name for him and then have him disappear for several months again before coming back to form _______HOOK with yet another person. Rinse, repeat.

No more JungleHook?

Guess it is time to move on to other tag teams like...

AndrettiHook
Hook El Idolo
HookOgogo
BanHookdo
Brock AnderHook
Colt HookBana
DarbyHook
All Hooko Ethan Page Hook
Fuego Del Hook
HookSilver
ArcherHook
Hookasaurus
Daddy Magic Hook
Daddy Ass Hook
NakazaHook
HookMorato
Penta El Hook
SkyHook
SonnyHook
Hook and Swerve
WardHook
And of course, HOOK.T.R.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’m actually going to be surprised if SkyHook isn’t a thing at some point. You just need to bring Scorpio back as a babyface.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

https://i.imgur.io/5Wed8_d.webp?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium

Hookasaurus

[Sepholio]

Should have Hook develop multiple personalities, one a face and one a heel. When he's a face he teams with Perry to form JungleHOOK. When his heel personality takes over he teams with Luchasaurus in HOOKasaurus. This ends up in a feud where both teams face off with Hook randomly spazzing out and switching personalities/teams multiple times during the match.

[Sepholio]

https://i.imgur.com/jAKIZ6z.png

[Sepholio]

Jerichohausen was formed on the Jericruise. Jericho came out dressed exactly like Danhausen, face paint and everything.

[xrodmuc316]

Jerichohausen was formed on the Jericruise. Jericho came out dressed exactly like Danhausen, face paint and everything.

DAMNIT I had like 20 teams, and JerichoHausen wasnt on my list. I feel like CM Punk's UFC career :'(

[Lock Jaw]

Would clearly be JeriHausen

[xrodmuc316]

Would clearly be JeriHausen

In most cases, sure, but at this point Jericho's ego could not handle his name being shortened :rofl:

[Mr. Nerfect]

Jericho would just be schmoozing up for allies.

[Jordan]

DAMNIT I had like 20 teams, and JerichoHausen wasnt on my list. I feel like CM Punk's UFC career :'(

:rofl:

[Evil Vito]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Looking at this card you'd think it was a pay-per-view or our last EWR save ��<br><br>Watch <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a> LIVE this Wednesday at 8/7c on <a href="https://twitter.com/TBSNetwork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tbsnetwork</a> <a href="https://t.co/lUj7oOXid7">pic.twitter.com/lUj7oOXid7</a></p>&mdash; AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/AEWonTV/status/1622763322914312194?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

LOL I knew Tony Khan played EWR!!! Hell yes.

[XL]

There’s not a whole lot there that has me “tuning in”.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That’s a very flat card. It’s not even fun to point out how flat it is.

[Lock Jaw]

Noid demands more man-boobs

[Sepholio]

PPV caliber card lmao. That's a good one.

[Vastardikai]

Early TNA cards were on PPV, right?

[poopfromweiner dude]

Takeshita

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am getting ready to start my life in the US. My first Costco. <a href="https://t.co/ZtpiLk0JnN">pic.twitter.com/ZtpiLk0JnN</a></p>&mdash; Konosuke Takeshita 竹下幸之介 (@Takesoup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Takesoup/status/1598802226952052736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I ordered a toaster from Amazon to bake Cinnabons at home as well. But what I received was a cutting board. I am a stupid. I bought a toaster accessory. I thought this was too cheap. There is a new bamboo smell in the kitchen. <a href="https://t.co/3GTRFK2YTU">pic.twitter.com/3GTRFK2YTU</a></p>&mdash; Konosuke Takeshita 竹下幸之介 (@Takesoup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Takesoup/status/1615215541412679680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Lock Jaw]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am getting ready to start my life in the US. My first Costco. <a href="https://t.co/ZtpiLk0JnN">pic.twitter.com/ZtpiLk0JnN</a></p>&mdash; Konosuke Takeshita 竹下幸之介 (@Takesoup) <a href="https://twitter.com/Takesoup/status/1598802226952052736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He's ready to take a s***, huh?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don’t know why I do this to myself, but I listened to a clip from Dave Meltzer talking about how smart Tony Khan is and comparing him to Eric Bischoff. He’s lost so many marbles.

[Lock Jaw]

Or he's smart enough to market himself to his audience

[xrodmuc316]

Or he's smart enough to market himself to his audience

His audience being Tony Khan in this case. He is smart enough to stroke the ego of a fragile manchild to ensure he stays in good standing with the said manchild. Dave keeps the moneymark happy so he can continue reaping the benefits of his access to Shad's checkbook.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Or he's smart enough to market himself to his audience

That stuff’s out there forever. You’ve got to compete with that bad take later when you want a good one.

[Lock Jaw]

I think you are giving wrestling fans and wrestling "journalists" too much credit there.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Well, I’m not really giving Dave any credit, but that could be too much.

[XL]

“In regards to WrestleMania 39, Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that Lesnar’s opponent for the event has yet to be finalized but it could be Bobby Lashley based on the current storyline between the two.”

Top of his field.

[Fignuts]

Fuck that.

Give us Lesnar vs Gunther

[Mr. Nerfect]

Save Lesnar vs. Gunther. Give it to people in the UK in 2024.

[Sepholio]

If they split the titles again, get one of them on Lesnar before WM next year. Have Gunther enter the rumble at 1 again next year by choice in order to show everyone his greatness. Have him run the damn table and win it from 1. Gunther v Lesnar at WM with Gunther winning his first main roster world title on the biggest stage of all.

[screech]

AEW on WTF today. Chris Jericho, Tony Khan, Colt Cabana, Bryce Remsberg, MJF, and Eddie Kingston:

<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/4Wq6DLKqDSnL7RYDuCd39q?utm_source=generator" width="35%" height="152" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>

[Jordan]

Paul Wight returning to action just in time for Double or Nothing to challenge MJF for the AEW Championship.

[Mr. Nerfect]

If they split the titles again, get one of them on Lesnar before WM next year. Have Gunther enter the rumble at 1 again next year by choice in order to show everyone his greatness. Have him run the damn table and win it from 1. Gunther v Lesnar at WM with Gunther winning his first main roster world title on the biggest stage of all.

Not a bad idea. If you have to do the split title thing, that’s a strong start for the other one.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Paul Wight returning to action just in time for Double or Nothing to challenge MJF for the AEW Championship.

You gotta do that Acclaimed & Captain Insano vs. The Gunns tag, or else are you even trying to make money?

[Sting Fan]

ESPN to show AEW in NZ and AU. Pretty stoked with that, I can drop the FITE subscription.

[Sepholio]

Forgot you were from Aotearoa.

[xrodmuc316]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kudos to the production team of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEW</a>! <br>2 weeks in a row <a href="https://twitter.com/mr_mansury?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mr_mansury</a> ������ <a href="https://t.co/nSUecZ0DX3">pic.twitter.com/nSUecZ0DX3</a></p>&mdash; Kenny Olivier (@KennyOlivier69) <a href="https://twitter.com/KennyOlivier69/status/1623686616752738304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[XL]

FEDBAD HUNTERBAD CIAMPABAD AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

sgbRTZ3-pPw

He’s at it again with the FEDBAD!!

“I felt like we were a backdrop. I felt that everything we had been promised when we came in, we were promised that the tag division was going to be built around these two teams, and I felt it wasn’t being built around us. I felt we were lied to and at the time we were being lied to. I think my relationship with Tony got even more strained, I felt the relationship with the Bucks completely deteriorated.

“I take the blame for that. I take the blame for it because I shouldn’t have taken wrestling so seriously. If Tony decided that he didn’t think we were in that league or we should’ve been presented in a certain way, it’s his company. Same thing with Vince (McMahon). I hold no ill will towards Vince or Tony (Khan). Tony is one of my closest buds now and I love him for what he’s done for me and my family.”

[#1-norm-fan]

FTR BAD!

FED BALD!!!

[Maluco]

Those FTR lads give more shoot interviews than they have featured matches on TV. Dax never seems to stop spouting nonsense.

[Sepholio]

Not surprising how close Dax is to Punk considering they both bitch and moan nonstop. Birds of a feather and all that.

I used to not get FTR back in the day, but they grew on me and now I think they are at the top of the tag team game. But Dax is being so annoying I'd rather they just go away. Sucks.

[XL]

Dude has a podcast. Needs to about something.

[Sting Fan]

I try not to listen to podcasts of any current wrestlers or sportspeople in general tbh. It quite often feels the need to be heard and air grievances takes away from the skill you enjoy them for.

Jericho might be my only exception to the rule and I'm pretty picky about what of his stuff I listen too.

[xrodmuc316]

Pretty sure his podcast is called "FTR Bald cries about stuff"

[Mr. Nerfect]

FTR have jumped the shark.

[ron the dial]

“Ring of Honor TV is coming Thursday, March 2 on HonorClub,” says Khan. “We’ll have our first tapings on Feb. 25 and 26 at Universal Studios in Orlando, and we’re going to put tickets on sale for the inaugural taping on Thursday. Those will be the first-ever tapings of the new Ring of Honor.

https://www.si.com/wrestling/2023/02/15/ring-of-honor-tv-broadcast-return-date-honorclub

[ron the dial]

will be interesting to see if this keeps ROH matches off of AEW entirely or if they keep a certain spotlight on ROH to try and move those honor club subs. i'm assuming it's a sub thing? never been to the site before...

[Lock Jaw]

Would be "funny" if he just has a bunch of "AEW matches" on the ROH shows

Defend all the AEW belts, why not

[drave]

tv deal imminent???!!?!

[Mr. Nerfect]

There is absolutely no point to ROH still existing.

[slik]

AEW has announced more Dynamites for TX and FL...

[xrodmuc316]

This is a 40 year old man :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You're a fraud <a href="https://twitter.com/arielhelwani?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@arielhelwani</a>. You're as legitimate of a reporter as <a href="https://twitter.com/tonyschiavone24?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tonyschiavone24</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWRampage?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWRampage</a></p>&mdash; Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1626762621990076421?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Vastardikai]

Ol' Twitterfingers gonna Twitterfinger.

[slik]

Very accurate


<iframe id="reddit-embed" src="https://www.redditmedia.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/114kziv/aews_storytelling_is_terrible/?ref_source=embed&amp;ref=share&amp;embed=true" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups" style="border: none;" height="2555" width="640" scrolling="no"></iframe>

[Lock Jaw]

lolAEW

[Vastardikai]

lolAEW

I still prefer AEWTF

[XL]

The never-ending Jericho programmes are a turn off.

[XL]

The only “bad take” from that list is the HOOK one. It’s been well established here that holding a title but barely defending it and never appearing on a premium event is a good thing. So they are way off base with that one!

[Bad News Gertner]

I was actually just thinking the other day while flipping through Twitter that we haven't had any Tony Khan cattiness on Twitter lately.

[Frank Drebin]

All he needs is a little push....

[#1-norm-fan]

For those wondering, AEW has 0 deals in Australia, because it isn’t very good.

AEW doesn’t even have TV in Australia.

I’m in Australia. AEW does not have a TV deal over here.

they don’t even have a slot in Australia, which is a pretty big market to miss out on.

AEW doesn’t have a TV deal in Australia.

AEW don’t even have a TV deal in Australia because NO ONE GIVES A FUCK.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ESPN to Broadcast All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Exclusively in Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands <a href="https://t.co/wFDyIOviX4">pic.twitter.com/wFDyIOviX4</a></p>&mdash; All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) <a href="https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1623865875941015552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

RIP Noid

oof.

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW is a joke. Tony Khan is a mess.

[#1-norm-fan]

:lol:

[xrodmuc316]

Very accurate


<iframe id="reddit-embed" src="https://www.redditmedia.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/114kziv/aews_storytelling_is_terrible/?ref_source=embed&amp;ref=share&amp;embed=true" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups" style="border: none;" height="2555" width="640" scrolling="no"></iframe>

There is so much wrong with AEW that only like half of that dude's post is visible lol

[xrodmuc316]

All he needs is a little push....

That push was apparently watching Smackdown, because FEDBAD, and seeing the Interviewer who said Tony was a bad interview because he wouldn't answer anything, being on Smackdown in his hometown. That is literally it, Ariel is a fraud because he appeared on WWE Smackdown. It could have been worse though, I mean what if WWE starts having wrestlers name their moves after him?

OHHHHHH MY it is the ARIELPLEX!!!!

[Sepholio]

HELWANIBOMB FROM THE TOP TURNBUCKLE MY GOD IVE NEVER SEEN SUCH DESTRUCTION

[Sepholio]

LOL Ariel getting a big segment on EC preshow rn. Love it.

[xrodmuc316]

LOL Ariel getting a big segment on EC preshow rn. Love it.

Tiny is losing his mind somewhere right now lol

[drave]

ESPN to Broadcast All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Exclusively in Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands pic.twitter.com/wFDyIOviX4 (https://t.co/wFDyIOviX4)
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 10, 2023 (https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1623865875941015552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

RIP Noid

oof.

AEW is a joke. Tony Khan is a mess.




¿sǝlqɯɐɥs

[screech]

I love how Noid was bragging about AEW not being on TV in Australia like anyone outside of Australia gave a shit lol

[#1-norm-fan]

If AEW can’t work out a way to bring back Punk and make money off of a rare instance of legit heat then wrestling is officially dead. Do the right thing, Tony…

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pepsi Phil better not have spent the $94 he owes Danhausen on New Japan tickets</p>&mdash; Danhausen (@DanhausenAD) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanhausenAD/status/1627171965873057792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

We need Punk vs Danhausen!

[XL]

I love how Noid was bragging about AEW not being on TV in Australia like anyone outside of Australia gave a shit lol

Be fair to the guy, he only mentioned it once or twice…

[Jordan]

Nobody brings together the starts of ROH from 20 years ago like Tony!

[Corporate CockSnogger]

AEW has definitely got worse over time. I’ve gone from watching the show in full, to having it on in the background while doing other things, to skipping half the matches as they introduced and focused on too many uninteresting people, to the point now where I skip every single match, just watching the promos and the endings of the matches out of hope a good story starts up and it becomes quite good again

[Corporate CockSnogger]

The next ppv could again be a really good card of 7-8 matches at most with lots of grudge matches and matches that make sense, even if the builds haven’t been great.

MJF v Danielson
Mox v Hangman
Tag title match
Christian v Jungle Boy
Wardlow v Samoa Joe
Whatever they do with the womens match

Keep it tight and with storylines that matter and more importantly, keep it within a reasonable run time.

But instead they’ll squeeze out every Orange Cassidy, Hook, Jay Lethal level wrestler on their roster into the ppv and have a run time of 6 hours.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Having trios titles and tag team titles is so stupid. Automatically reduces the depth of both divisions, since any trios teams they have are just an established team + a friend.

Scrap the trios belts, put them in the bin.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Scrap Jade Cargills belt too. Have Ruby Soho join the WWE girls side, so Britt and Hayter have a surprise AEW original partner. Jade comes out and breaks Sarayas neck so we never have to see or hear her again.

Then you move towards a Jade/Hayter powerhouse feud with them respecting each other. Britt can either cost Hayter the belt and Jade carries on the streak, or Britt costs Jade the belt and her streak because she wants to beat Hayter for the belt. Or you have a three way feud, plenty of options.

Just bring Jade into the fold and get rid of her pointless belt.

[Mr. Nerfect]

LolAEW

[screech]

The trios belts and TBS title seem to exist independently of everything else on the show. P useless tbh

[Mr. Nerfect]

Is the All-Atlantic belt still around?

[screech]

Keep it tight and with storylines that matter and more importantly, keep it within a reasonable run time.

But instead they’ll squeeze out every Orange Cassidy, Hook, Jay Lethal level wrestler on their roster into the ppv and have a run time of 6 hours.

I feel like this is a problem in modern rasslin. The company thinks cramming as many people onto the card as possible means the show will be great.

[Mr. Nerfect]

WWE have moved away from that over the past 18 months or so. Now their shows often have like 6 matches.

[Tom Guycott]

I feel like this is a problem in modern rasslin. The company thinks cramming as many people onto the card as possible means the show will be great.

WWE have moved away from that over the past 18 months or so. Now their shows often have like 6 matches.

Two extremes of a similar problem.

Going back in time quite a bit, part of the reason for Smackdown! even coming into existence... shit, part of the reason why RAW went from one hour to two permanantly was to get more people on TV and supposedly get more of them over. But each time, what eventually happened was they would just feature the "over" people for longer periods of time. One hour RAW used to have 3-4 matches. Then, they'd do the occasional "extra hour" and bump up to about 6 or 7. After the two hours became permanant, they somehow trickled back down to about 4 matches, and got in more skits and commercials. Current 3 hour RAW is now about the same content wise as the original 1 hour RAW. The only thing that salvages Smackdown (which at one point suffered the same fate, just on a different day) is that they're still doing the brand split, so there are at least different people there, but it's still pretty much the same people week to week with nearly ceaseless, overproduced talking.

AEW, on the other hand, will overexpose 1 or two "hot, new" talent, but still rotate a cast of about 1/3 of their very bloated roster on Dynamite, and a different 1/3 on Rampage with no rhyme or reason and end up making EVERYONE white noise- expendable and interchangable and just there. They supposedly try to make you care about someone, then that someone disappears for months at a time. Poof, just suddenly not on TV anymore. While there's (comparably) less talking than WWE, they also skimp on the storytelling period. X and Y have a match. Excalibur mentions that they had a match 7 years ago in Japan. Y beats X, and you never hear about either of them having any history ever again. Y might get two more wins on TV like he's building to some sort of title match feud, then fucks off for six months. Nobody's even asking where Y is after a couple weeks, because nobody remembers Y works for AEW.

So you end up with either something like WWE with the whole Bloodline thing (not knocking it because it's entertaining and intriguing, but the point of this is to illustrate exactly how much time that particular drama eats up multiple segments of TV time every week when it doesn't need to and still get the same positive response), or AEW with clusterfucks upon clusterfucks of random people, random stables, matches, and titles that makes the East Palestine Train Derailment* look like a two car fender bender.

There's got to be a happy medium where Vince's folks showcase a little more than the same 10 people between 2-3 hours of commercial breaks that might have some matches in between because "ugh, I guess we have to this is obstensibly a wrestling program", and where Tony pops a little more Ritalin and maybe pares down the scope instead of splooging interchangeable folks having 15 minutes bouts everywhere all the time to where nobody has the ability to care about any of them.

*I'm kinda tired of people saying "Ohio Train Fire". Way too impersonal, like the place is too nondescript to even mention. Just say the name of the town like pretty much any other disaster... but maybe I feel that way because it's about 20 miles from me.

[Tom Guycott]

The trios belts and TBS title seem to exist independently of everything else on the show. P useless tbh

Prob'ly for two different reasons.

I wonder if Jade is just making the best of being there and counting the days down until she's a free agent? She seems like there wasn't really any actual plans for her in any meaningful way after Mr. & Mrs. Rhodes departed from the company, and any "serious" competition she was being groomed to go up against pretty much either got hurt (Statlander) or departed (Thunder Rosa), and there wasn't anything else on the slate for her without those matchups happening when they should have.

As for the Trios, I'm kinda torn. While I agree it's yet another stupid auxillary title, it serves a purpose of keeping The Young Bucks away from everything else, and gives them their own little belts to be marks for. Even if they're kings of a non-existant division or chasing for the crown of the same non-existant division, they can "kill the business" in their own little corner all they want. They've already proven that's all they wanted to be in charge of the tag division for - to have potential "dream matches" against FTR (hot off buzz... to go over) and a reunited Hardy Boyz (hot off buzz...to go over, if they had the chance to), and sign a bunch of other nobody tag teams who can have a Young Bucks type of match (like that one Chineese team signed at the beginning of AEW that was "the tag team of the future"... remember them?!?)... and go over them. If they were focused on the actual tag division, we'd get Austin and Colton counting lights for them, the Acclaimed wouldn't have had the chance to shine as much because Castor's raps would be getting inturrupted and one-upped by the Jackson boys, and any other tag teams, real or imagined, would just be stepping stones for them to have an annual winning record on their entrance lower third instead of MAKING any of those teams in any meaningful way to advance the industry, thus PROVING they're the greatest tag team ever :roll: like they "humbly" present themselves as despite having the exact same match since they were "Generation Me" in TNA (prob'ly longer, but that was the first time I actually saw them... and even back then that shit got repetitive and stale pretty quick).

[Lock Jaw]

They should unify all the tiles and put it all on Christian Cage.

Problem solved.

[screech]

Lock Jaw gets it

[Evil Vito]

Pretty much agreed on that Reddit post that Slik put up there.

I still watch Dynamite every week because I genuinely enjoy the wrestling. But my engagement with the stories is at an all-time low. And Tony never seems willing to hire anyone to help keep him focused so it just doesn't feel it'll change anytime soon.

[Evil Vito]

One of the beauties with early AEW is that almost nobody wrestled on consecutive weeks. They had a roster that was big enough to allow them to rotate the ring-work, guys would wrestle once every 2-3 weeks but pretty much everyone important would be featured in vignettes, promos, angles etc. They had a good rotation going.

That continued right on through the pandemic, especially with their taping schedule being what it was (live episode Wednesday, taped episode Thursday, then everyone goes home for 2 weeks).

Now it's just the polar opposite. Same people wrestling every week and while I'm not about to complain about seeing a guy like Danielson wrestle every week, it's a problem when you have sizable chunks of the roster going unused.

I understood AEW got burned over the summer with fuckloads of guys going out hurt at the same time, but they are mostly healthy now. Mox was supposed to take a vacation on September and it never happened. Khan's all but said he "can't afford" to lose Danielson for a month to do the G1. Why not? Are advertisers demanding all the big names work every week? It's a mess.

[Evil Vito]

Thinking more about the Danielson/MJF angle...it's repetitive yes but I think part of the reason it feels this way goes well beyond the basic framework of "Danielson runs an MJF gauntlet". There's actually some differences in this angle than the previous gauntlets and they're easy to miss because AEW seem to be poor at explaining things.

On paper the MJF/Danielson build is actually really smart. The story is that the responsibilities of being a champion are killing MJF, heavily because he can't actually get away with his usual bullshit. He didn't get to choose Danielson's opponents, he didn't get to pick stipulations, and even trying to force Danielson into a Labors of Jericho series of matches has ended up screwing him over in the long run because now he has to wrestle a match type that favors the challenger.

He wanted the brass ring and now he's gotten it and it means that he has to go places he doesn't want to go, he has to wrestle people he'd rather not wrestle, and so on and so forth. The only alternative is to give up the belt, a thing he'd never do. Danielson, conversely, loves and wants nothing more but to wrestle matches, so the moment he's negotiated it so the reward is worth the risk his only issue is getting to the finish line. In its way it's kind of a funny inversion of MJF's feuds.

But none of that is really made clear. Nothing is made as clear as it needs to be, which means that every week on here people have come in not knowing who canonically is booking Danielson's opponents (it's Tony Khan, not MJF), how long he needs to win matches for (it was for five weeks, which feels arbitrary because the top five rankings functionally do not exist anymore), or even that MJF is coming actually unglued (because MJF has played nearly every single version of his character except for the "I'm actually deep because I was bullied when I was younger" version). And I can't blame anyone for that because there have been weeks where I've been unsure of that myself, and have only noticed it because I caught words Excalibur was saying at his full auctioneer pace when running down cards.

Some of AEW's problems are heavily about circumstances that are out of their control, or a general reluctance to give indicators as to why wrestlers have been cycled out (Wardlow getting injured, for example), but some of it is really just a seeming refusal to not simplify things and hammer home the same beats over and over so even a fourth-grader could understand it, which is what you need to do for a large TV audience.

[Lock Jaw]

Speaking solely about my experience watching for a couple months after Punk went over... seems like Tony relies heavily on the internet fans to "fill in the gaps" on his stories for him. Since that is his primary demo he sees no need to change as long as people keep filling in the gaps for him.

Once enough of the IWC turns against him, then we'll see Meltzer and the other "journalists" turn against AEW to shift with their market as well, and then things will unravel quickly....

[Tom Guycott]

One of the beauties with early AEW is that almost nobody wrestled on consecutive weeks. They had a roster that was big enough to allow them to rotate the ring-work, guys would wrestle once every 2-3 weeks but pretty much everyone important would be featured in vignettes, promos, angles etc. They had a good rotation going.

That continued right on through the pandemic, especially with their taping schedule being what it was (live episode Wednesday, taped episode Thursday, then everyone goes home for 2 weeks).

Now it's just the polar opposite. Same people wrestling every week and while I'm not about to complain about seeing a guy like Danielson wrestle every week, it's a problem when you have sizable chunks of the roster going unused.

I understood AEW got burned over the summer with fuckloads of guys going out hurt at the same time, but they are mostly healthy now. Mox was supposed to take a vacation on September and it never happened. Khan's all but said he "can't afford" to lose Danielson for a month to do the G1. Why not? Are advertisers demanding all the big names work every week? It's a mess.

Speaking solely about my experience watching for a couple months after Punk went over... seems like Tony relies heavily on the internet fans to "fill in the gaps" on his stories for him. Since that is his primary demo he sees no need to change as long as people keep filling in the gaps for him.

Once enough of the IWC turns against him, then we'll see Meltzer and the other "journalists" turn against AEW to shift with their market as well, and then things will unravel quickly....

That's always been a problem for the entire time: relying on people like us to carry the product. Folks like us who even know who the fuck Meltzer is, let alone care one way or the other about what he says. Folks like us who have at least a cursory care about what's going on in NJPW, NWA, MLW, AAA, or the surprisingly still upright corpse of Impact.

Relying on the internet wrestliing community to watch all of their shows, including the web-only stuff that's obviously nowhere near appointment watching, and understanding that an angle is happening between X and Y that involves a thing that happened between them at an indy show in Britain over some New Japan title where most of the "normal" fans will have prob'ly have only seen Dynamite and wonder who the hell those two guys even are.

Relying on the IWC to *know* who someone like Shibata is and caring enough to want to see him against Orange Cassidy. Relying on the IWC to "fall for" just plugging New Guy Z in with Veteran W and expecting them to automatically get an instantanious rub of stardom instead of actually building anyone.

And again, it comes down to being an opposite extreme from WWE. When you had the perfect storm in something like The Ryder Revolution, it was unique in being a time and place event where he - individually - was about as over, if not moreso, than any of the top guys on the card *because* he had a burgeoning social media groundswell that the company just didn't understand or quantify, and was in a position to capitialize on it in a way that Matt Hardy before him couldn't (realistically speaking, Matt had the vision, but was WAAAYYY too early on that forefront, trying to build a fanbase when the world was still just getting used to dial-up and chatrooms and not when everyone had a microcomputer in their pocket and could instantaniously interact). Heck, WWE still had commentators bash "the internet" and and style it to be a total of 30 basement-dwelling neckbeards globally, and only maybe half of those might possibly be into wrestling just to trash it instead of a thing that, again at that point, EVERYONE had access too at pretty much any time if they had a nice enough cellular phone or computer/laptop... while AEW likes to pretend now that that is all that exists and the only way everyone consumes everything in every interest all the time and all of those interests intersect for everyone.

There should not be a need to hold Bryan Danielson from the G1 or stop Mox from vactioning or doing the originally planned NJPW timeshare because nobody around can be assed to actually "build" folks (plural) that anyone would or should care about to be able to carry the company in the absense of one or two talent, but there is a very bad habit to only trade on most folks who already came in with some sort of name behind them from elsewhere. About the only people who seemingly bucked that trend were Darby Allin, Hook, and Dr. Britt. Even then, most of those people end up spinning wheels instead of being any sort of help or hinderance.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Speaking solely about my experience watching for a couple months after Punk went over... seems like Tony relies heavily on the internet fans to "fill in the gaps" on his stories for him. Since that is his primary demo he sees no need to change as long as people keep filling in the gaps for him.

Once enough of the IWC turns against him, then we'll see Meltzer and the other "journalists" turn against AEW to shift with their market as well, and then things will unravel quickly....

Yep. The problem with the hardcore niche audience is that they’re the ones that are going to look elsewhere for their wrestling. They’re already watching WWE and know that it is better. If something else tickles their fancy more, they’ll abandon AEW in a second.

[Evil Vito]

About the only people who seemingly bucked that trend were Darby Allin, Hook, and Dr. Britt. Even then, most of those people end up spinning wheels instead of being any sort of help or hinderance.

Yeah pretty much all of these people are "spinning wheels" by this point in various stages. Especially Hook.

Hook is admittedly still green but I can't see how he's never going to stop being green if they don't ween him off of one-sided, heavily choreographed matches. Booking-wise it seems AEW are very scared that fans will stop caring about him the second he loses a match. And so he's still on squash duty.

I think they're in a similar boat with Jade. Her win streak is really tarnished when you consider how it's booked. Her only fully easy wins are against non-contract Dark talent. Her first loss is probably still be saved for Kris Stat but again, does it even matter if Jade's consistently shown she needs interference to beat anyone remotely important?

They took a good guiding principle with the "wins and losses matter" stuff and then ended up at a very weird destination with it where they've booked themselves into a corner with undefeated streaks.

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW’s stories rarely make sense. That gets pointed out a bit more now, but nowhere near as much as it should. And when you’re appealing to an audience that likes to be rewarded for paying attention, it is eventually going to become alienating when the goodwill erodes.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Jaime Hayter was red hot off her title win. The easiest and most sediment billing was turning Britt on her, giving her the full fledged babyface run between two homegrown stars and having Hayter go over and be the center of the division.

Instead she’s still a lackey, just with a belt. Saraya going heel was a good idea and they pivoted well, but that should be getting built up to feed to Hayter at the next ppv and it’s not. Complete waste IMO

[screech]

They took a good guiding principle with the "wins and losses matter" stuff and then ended up at a very weird destination with it where they've booked themselves into a corner with undefeated streaks.

Related: saw on reddit a few days ago that the AEW rankings have not been updated on their website since August 31. That is still the case as of right now:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FpmVJISWAAAPEr6?format=png&name=small

[Evil Vito]

Jaime Hayter was red hot off her title win. The easiest and most sediment billing was turning Britt on her, giving her the full fledged babyface run between two homegrown stars and having Hayter go over and be the center of the division.

Instead she’s still a lackey, just with a belt. Saraya going heel was a good idea and they pivoted well, but that should be getting built up to feed to Hayter at the next ppv and it’s not. Complete waste IMO

I'd like to believe that they had Britt turning on Jamie leading to a Revolution title match penciled in, but then Saraya proved to be so dislikable that they needed to get her heel as soon as possible and figured they could keep Jamie and Britt as a unified front a bit longer. But now they're just in this awful Originals vs. implied Ex-WWE feud. What's that gonna lead to, a tag match at the PPV? Jamie should be getting the solo focus.

Also you know Britt vs. Jamie is something they'd want to do at PPV, so now it'll be another 3 months and they'll have to stretch the split out even longer now then if they'd just done the angle people were ready for when she won the belt. Annoying.

[Evil Vito]

Related: saw on reddit a few days ago that the AEW rankings have not been updated on their website since August 31. That is still the case as of right now:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FpmVJISWAAAPEr6?format=png&name=small

Yeah they finally did away with the rankings, which I understand because it felt like they were barely adhering to them anyway. Like it became a running joke that FTR were the top ranked team for months and months yet they'd never get a title shot, teams lower ranked than them kept getting shots and AEW made no real attempt to explain this away.

I think near the beginning Cody said that "quality of opponent" was an implied metric for deciding rankings, sorta like college football. Which again is a cool idea in theory but in practice you can see how it would hamstring them.

Like during COVID they started running 16 Dark matches a week. And yeah, it was cool that Khan was helping giving a shitload of indy workers a check every week at a time when indies weren't running. But then you had guys who lose whenever they're on Dynamite show up with a chevron showing they had a career record of like 75-19. Looked clunky.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Are we ready to admit the rankings were a bad idea from the start?

[Sting Fan]

Haven’t watched Dynamite yet, about too.

I heard AEW are adding another hour, sounds like some kind of talk show? Big ol meh from me, wrestling talk shows don’t interest me but seems like a show of support from the network which is interesting and really goes against a lot of the internet narrative.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Sounds like they’re trying to drum up interest more than anything. I don’t expect this to do well.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Could be a ploy to stretch AEW even further to dry it up so they can cancel too.

[Tom Guycott]

Yeah pretty much all of these people are "spinning wheels" by this point in various stages. Especially Hook.

Hook is admittedly still green but I can't see how he's never going to stop being green if they don't ween him off of one-sided, heavily choreographed matches. Booking-wise it seems AEW are very scared that fans will stop caring about him the second he loses a match. And so he's still on squash duty.

I think they're in a similar boat with Jade. Her win streak is really tarnished when you consider how it's booked. Her only fully easy wins are against non-contract Dark talent. Her first loss is probably still be saved for Kris Stat but again, does it even matter if Jade's consistently shown she needs interference to beat anyone remotely important?

They took a good guiding principle with the "wins and losses matter" stuff and then ended up at a very weird destination with it where they've booked themselves into a corner with undefeated streaks.

That's a consequence of not actually making with any sort of actual card hierarchy or building any other talent to see him square off against. Though I'm primarily talking about Hook, it applies to Jade as well. They're either pounding an endless parade of jobbers and clowns or they would immediately jump to who would be considered main event... with absolutely no road to climb up there. There is no true middle card, ironically making them stuck in the middle card. This would be like if in WCW, you had someone getting weekly wins on WorldWide, but then the "serious" talent on Nitro and such only consisted of guys like Sting or Goldberg or Scott Steiner. There's no Fit Finlays or Dean Malenkos or Filthy Animals to go up against to help climb the card... it's either Roadblock or Macho Man. You can't just jump from "Lightning Foot" Jerry Flynn to DDP and expect to be taken seriously.

Most of AEW's roster consists of nothing but pre-"Purple Rain" Prince Ieukeas and Blitzkreigs.

[Sepholio]

I dunno if you're trying to insult Blitzkrieg there but if you are then sir are a fuddy duddy.

[#1-norm-fan]

Tony seems like he’s dead set on going the old school route of building up credible monsters and not butchering it seemingly on purpose like WWE has done over recent years. But he’s also scatterbrained and too influenced by current wrestling, consciously or not, to fully commit to it. So he just sticks with the squashes for too long.

Then there’s Wardlow who probably should still be doing squashes. It may not be ideal at this point but it’s preferable to what they’ve done with him.

[screech]

Wardlow squashing jobbers would be much better than "I'm mad at Samoa Joe because he cut my hair and my dad died" for sure.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Has Tony Khan actually ever elevated someone with his booking?

[Lock Jaw]

https://i.imgur.com/iHJ18DK.jpg

[Mr. Nerfect]

Touché. Is that the match where they couldn’t open the door, so everyone just slipped through the bars?

[Sepholio]

Tony seems like he’s dead set on going the old school route of building up credible monsters and not butchering it seemingly on purpose like WWE has done over recent years. But he’s also scatterbrained and too influenced by current wrestling, consciously or not, to fully commit to it. So he just sticks with the squashes for too long.

Then there’s Wardlow who probably should still be doing squashes. It may not be ideal at this point but it’s preferable to what they’ve done with him.

I get what you're saying here but I recall the old school method being used to create monsters out of people who were believable as monsters. I don't remember it being used to elevate kids who weigh 130lbs dripping wet into world destroyers.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wardlow’s booking should disqualify Tony from Booker of the Year contention immediately.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I said it was probably too early to split him and MJF when it happened. Why would you break these two up if the plan wasn’t to GO with Wardlow?

[#1-norm-fan]

I get what you're saying here but I recall the old school method being used to create monsters out of people who were believable as monsters. I don't remember it being used to elevate kids who weigh 130lbs dripping wet into world destroyers.

Well yeah, in Hook’s case it’s because he’s Taz’ kid and Tony was an ECW mark.

[#1-norm-fan]

No botching of the booking of a monster will ever match Ryback though. I don’t think it can ever be topped if someone tries.

[Sepholio]

I dunno, they didn't really botch Rybacks build as much as drop the ball once he got there. But looking back at his behavior over the years I feel like maybe he might have brought some of it on himself. He seems quite a bit of a tool.

I still remember him slamming 2 (and I think sometimes even 3) dudes at one time. Was a hell of a thing to see.

[Sepholio]

Well yeah, in Hook’s case it’s because he’s Taz’ kid and Tony was an ECW mark.

Also I was talking with some folks on the book about Hook yesterday. It was in the context of some AEW marks bitching about Cody being pushed in WWE is just because of nepotism due to being Dustys boy and that TK doesn't play nepotism like that. So someone brings up Hook and they literally tried to explain how nepotism has nothing to do with him and it was just laughable to me. He won his dads imaginary title from one of his dads "clients" while his dad was on the mic talking about how awesome he is. If that's not nepotism then nothing is.

Nepotism.











Nepotism.

[Sepholio]

Feel like we're about due for one of those "hook disappears for 3 months and comes back and we act like his last story never happened again and have him squash some jobbers before we put him in another story we'll drop 3 weeks later"

[Sepholio]

Danhausen should attack Hook and beat him for the FTW title because Hook forgot all about him. Very neglected, very evil.

[#1-norm-fan]

He’d have the rename it the (NC)TW Title.

[Sepholio]

I'd go with Frick The World or something but yours works too.

[slik]

Dave Meltzer said he heard talk AEW might be adding another championship, the gist of it being an 'Interpromotional Championship' that can be defended on either AEW or ROH television.

[screech]

More belts!

[Sepholio]

Man I was just thinking that AEW needed more titles. This still isn't enough but it's a step in the right direction!

[Tom Guycott]

I dunno if you're trying to insult Blitzkrieg there but if you are then sir are a fuddy duddy.

Whatever your feelings about any of the guys I mentioned that were on the lower rungs of WCW, they were doing jobs to the actual stars at 10:05 am on Saturday morning. Blitzkreig included.

Then you get up to guys like Konnan or Glacier or Mortis (specifically while he was Mortis: still in the mask and being accompanied with James Van Den Berg), who would be the guy who beats all those guys but consistently counts lights for guys who "the championship comittee" are looking to push in any sort of meaningful way. They were the WorldWide gatekeepers.

On a side note, it's one of the reasons why I always "hated" Konnan. It was like his whole gimmick was talking shit and getting hit. Before I knew about how he was previously a big deal in Mexico or his previous stint as Max Moon or any of that shit, I was introduced to him being "stereotypical movie gangbanger" who had just enough intangible charisma to trash talk almost anyone, but then he does the job often in record time. I knew guys like that for real, there was no desire to get behind that on TV.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

The only belts they need are the men’s and women’s world titles, tag and the TNT and TBS belts. I don’t mind midcard titles because it gives lesser guys/guys you want to build up something to have a program for.

The rest is just excess that doesn’t mean anything.

Also, push Willow Nightingale. The crowds love her, she’s got great music, she’s good in the ring and has charisma. Give her Jade’s first loss. Doesn’t have to be an emphatic win. It can be a hard fought match that Jade dominates, but Willow preservers and wins with a roll up to counter Jaded. Jade still looks strong and can move up to a sink or swim program against Hayter while Willow goes thru all the b level heels in the women’s division.

I have a dummy feeling that Saraya is getting the belt at Revolution. While I think that would be pulling the rug out from under Hayter, I also feel like Tony missed the fucking boat on her abs a red hot title feud with her and Britt. Granted they can still get there. But if Saraya does win, at least the belt will get consistent tv time again. I’d still hate it.

[Sepholio]

Pfft. There won't be enough titles until everyone has at least one.

[Sepholio]

It will be a glorious day when TK can finally announce that AEW has more champions than the entire rest of the world.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Things are looking dicey between AEW and FTR. AEW hilariously did up graphics for the Observer award winners (how’s that unbiased journalism going?). They purposely ignored FTR and Dax has had a sook about it on Twitter. He’s going to be doing a podcast on the backstage bullshit surrounding The Pinnacle. Shawn Spears commented by saying it was DOA.

What a fucking mess.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’m almost bored of the mismanagement drama. Almost. Not quite.

[Mr. Nerfect]

A video of Fight Forever featuring Adam Page and Bryan Danielson came out. It looks fucking horrible.

[Vastardikai]

We needed molotov cocktails, though...

[Mr. Nerfect]

And baseball.

[Mr. Nerfect]

The wrestlers don’t even look like themselves. Danielson has got the most weird-ass hair.

[Mr. Nerfect]

No one here seems to be talking about the ROH tapings. This thing seems tepid as fuck. It sounds like the ROH shows are going to be 2 hrs of Rampage-esque matches.

[XL]

Nobody here was interested in ROH before Tony bought it, tracks that there’s still zero interest.

[Destor]

Havent really cared since Gabe left

[Mr. Nerfect]

It certainly doesn’t have the shine to it that it once had.

[slik]

John Laurenitus rumored to be signing with AEW...was backstage at last two shows

[Mr. Nerfect]

That sounds very weird.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I have a question in regards to AEW’s June PPV: How many times can a forbidden door be opened before it is no longer considered forbidden?

[Sepholio]

Oh man if they hire Laurenitus ahahahahha

[Mr. Nerfect]

He got uninvited to a convention for being a problem. AEW is not going to bring him in with their political stances. And the fans will also hold their faces in disbelief because the evil joke, Johnny Ace, is with their company. I’m calling bullshit on this, but if it does happen…holy shit.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I could see WWE rehiring him. Did he do anything *worse* than Vince? But not AEW. I think this is just satire aimed at the state of the company.

[#1-norm-fan]

Wrestling at the Cow Palace tonight. Hits me in the old school California rasslin’ nostalgia feels.

[Sepholio]

I could see WWE rehiring him. Did he do anything *worse* than Vince? But not AEW. I think this is just satire aimed at the state of the company.

I dunno I'm imagining TK might be a little horny at the prospect of Laurenitus cutting a debut fedbad promo with veiled references to Vince being a predator.

[drave]

A video of Fight Forever featuring Adam Page and Bryan Danielson came out. It looks fucking horrible.




Danielson's hair looks like it did at one point (before AEW got their TV deal though, so maybe that's why?) in AEW.



So far, it looks to be moving like it should. WWE can do their "photo-realistic" games if they want (I' invoking WWE because there aren't any other comparable games). Except they only scan about 20% or less of the game'sl roster, so it looks horrible outside of your "main attraction" stars.



This looks as advertised from the start. In today's gaming, seriously, it isn't all about "the graphics" for most.



<iframe width="1250" height="703" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OTAeCs4xu44" title="AEW Fight Forever - Exclusive Official Adam Page vs Bryan Danielson Clip | IGN Fan Fest 2023" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Fignuts]

Yeah, it's quick and snappy like a no mercy style game should be.

Although the animation on those diving moves looks a little too choppy. Buckshot looks great though.

[#1-norm-fan]

I remember one of the old N64 WWF games basically just had a picture of the dude’s face on his video game body. It looked weird as fuck.

[#1-norm-fan]

Man, I didn’t know that video was gonna switch to real footage after the entrance and for a split second I was like “WHAT THE FUCK…”

[#1-norm-fan]

Saw someone on Twitter bring up the idea of Mark Briscoe and FTR winning the Trios titles and now I need that to happen.

Still think the titles are stupid but if anything could give them purpose for a while, it’s that.

[XL]

You’d need FTR to appear on the show to set that up and that seems like a “no-go”.

[screech]

Game looks okay. I don't "love" the graphics, but also that's not super important to me with rasslin games. I mainly want the controls to make sense.

[#1-norm-fan]

Yeah, wrestling games lost me years ago when it went from “grapple and then hit a button or combination of buttons for a specific move” to “up, down, x, x, right trigger, x, y, b, left trigger, right, left, right, left, x, w, q, q, q, plug in old Duck Hunt gun and pull the trigger, y, right trigger = body slam”

[Mr. Nerfect]

The movements look choppy as hell. Graphics aren’t the end-all, but the wrestlers don’t even look like the wrestlers. Danielson’s hair is a perfect example of that.

[Lock Jaw]

Coming from a guy who hasn't regularly played video games since the Gamecube.... movements look perfectly fine and the two rasslers in that video look pretty good... Danielson's hair matches the weird-ass style he had around his AEW debut when I watched for a few months....

[#1-norm-fan]

Hangman’s earlobes aren’t quite to my liking.

F-

[XL]

Yeah, wrestling games lost me years ago when it went from “grapple and then hit a button or combination of buttons for a specific move” to “up, down, x, x, right trigger, x, y, b, left trigger, right, left, right, left, x, w, q, q, q, plug in old Duck Hunt gun and pull the trigger, y, right trigger = body slam”

Tbf, wrestling games largely went the other way until the most recent 2K game which put elements of those back in which was something I wasn’t overly keen on.

If this is just going straight to Game Pass and releases in the next 2 weeks it could be a really smart move. As much as I was impressed by 2K22 I can’t see 23 being a big enough jump forward to warrant dropping another £60 on. A few quid for game pass to play the AEW game might scratch that itch until 2K23 comes down in price (and some of the inevitable early bugs are patched).

[Sepholio]

I thought the thing about it being on game pass was just fake news?

[Mr. Nerfect]

It wouldn’t surprise me if this game ends up on the side of a milk carton.

[xrodmuc316]

I heard they changed the game title to AEW Wait Forever :lol:

[#1-norm-fan]

<a href="https://imgflip.com/i/7d2c8z"><img src="https://i.imgflip.com/7d2c8z.jpg" title="made at imgflip.com"/></a><div><a href="https://imgflip.com/memegenerator"></a></div>

[Lock Jaw]

I heard they changed the game title to AEW Wait Forever :lol:

https://media.tenor.com/eVZ_uOSR7JsAAAAC/sick-burn.gif

[drave]

The movements look choppy as hell. Graphics aren’t the end-all, but the wrestlers don’t even look like the wrestlers. Danielson’s hair is a perfect example of that.




Brother in Christos, I'd highly encourage you to look up some screenshots of prior WWE games. It's waaaaaaay worse than hair. When someone isn't scanned, it looks awful.




Yeah, wrestling games lost me years ago when it went from “grapple and then hit a button or combination of buttons for a specific move” to “up, down, x, x, right trigger, x, y, b, left trigger, right, left, right, left, x, w, q, q, q, plug in old Duck Hunt gun and pull the trigger, y, right trigger = body slam”





This is mostly gone. There may be a few things like RT+X, but that's as complicated as it gets anymore. I bought 2k22 on sale, it's the best release in a very long time.

[#1-norm-fan]

My butthole is squeaky clean, drave. What the hell.

[Sepholio]

Stop lying liar.

[Sepholio]

Oh wait that's the other fan isn't it?

[Sepholio]

You guys are easy to get confused.

[#1-norm-fan]

As someone who has paid money to watch me poop, you should know how thorough my butt cleaning routine is. Or do you turn the stream off after the main event?

[xrodmuc316]

https://i.imgflip.com/7d857a.jpg

LOL

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don't worry he ain't watching</p>&mdash; Kevin Nash (@RealKevinNash) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealKevinNash/status/1631806790877814788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Huge pop!!</p>&mdash; Undertaker (@undertaker) <a href="https://twitter.com/undertaker/status/1631836453918457857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

LolAEW

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don't worry he ain't watching</p>&mdash; Kevin Nash (@RealKevinNash) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealKevinNash/status/1631806790877814788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Huge pop!!</p>&mdash; Undertaker (@undertaker) <a href="https://twitter.com/undertaker/status/1631836453918457857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

The Revolution card looks fucking horrid.

I’d actually put Danielson over in the main event at this point. Nothing about this MJF run or the promotion is working right now.

MJF gets ahead with a submission early. Danielson taps to avoid damage to his arm. (1-0)

* MJF goes up again when he again gets the arm. MJF is starting to get cocky. (2-0)

* Danielson gets a DQ point when MJF hits him in the arm with a steel chair. (2-1)

* MJF gets a third submission with the arm now fully damaged. (3-1)

* Danielson scores a second fall when he small packages MJF as a defensive move. (3-2)

* Danielson gets his hands on the steel chair and uses it, getting himself disqualified and sending MJF to the outside. (4-2)

* Danielson looks for the knockout forearm on the outside, but MJF moves and Danielson crashes and burns. MJF gets him back in the ring and hits the Heat Seeker for a pin. (5-2)

* Danielson makes a comeback and hits a string of rolling German suplexes with bridges after them. He tries to get the pin after each one. The third one gets 3. (5-3)

* Danielson goes back to the well with the Germans, but MJF, sensing himself to be in trouble, mule kicks Bryan in the balls and gets himself disqualified again. (5-4)

* They spill to the outside again and Danielson gets the knockout forearm and rolls MJF back into the ring for the pin. (5-5)

* Danielson goes for his routine babyface stuff to try and break ahead. When he backflips, MJF prevents himself from being inside and catches Bryan with a school boy, but Danielson rolls through and gets the LeBell Lock and holds it as time expires.

* Tony Khan comes out and screams about how Iron Man Matches in AEW don’t end in draws. It’s going to be sudden death.

* Danielson gets his routine babyface stuff, this time it works. He hits a spider German superplex off the top rope and lines up for the knee, ala SummerSlam ‘13 against John Cena. MJF dodges, escapes to the outside. Danielson hits a knee off the apron. He rolls MJF inside, ends up hitting the Busaiku and wins the match. (6-5)

[Lock Jaw]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don't worry he ain't watching</p>&mdash; Kevin Nash (@RealKevinNash) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealKevinNash/status/1631806790877814788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Huge pop!!</p>&mdash; Undertaker (@undertaker) <a href="https://twitter.com/undertaker/status/1631836453918457857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[XL]

Did we need that posting 3 times? :lol:

[Vastardikai]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Don't worry he ain't watching</p>&mdash; Kevin Nash (@RealKevinNash) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealKevinNash/status/1631806790877814788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Huge pop!!</p>&mdash; Undertaker (@undertaker) <a href="https://twitter.com/undertaker/status/1631836453918457857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

No, but here is a fourth one.