Enough with the stables!

[They Adam Bradley]

How many stables or “teams” does this company need? I was sitting there thinking about all this after the formation of QT’s little group. Is there anyone who’s a guy who gets regular tv time who is just by himself? World champion has the good brother and Don...Darby has sting....Young Bucks hage “the elite” and occasionally the good brother. Hardy has his whole crew. Team taz has their whole group. Inner Circle. The Pinnacle, best friends, Miro/Kip/ford. All the nightmare family. The Gunn club, now you have Scorpio and Page, Peter Avalon’s new group. Vickie/Nyla. All the dark order little tag teams and the group overall! Death triangle/Larado Kid....now even the ultimate Loner in Jon Moxley is out with Kingston. Is Lance Archer the only exception to this?? I cannot think of anyone else, but there are way to many little groups right
Now.

[kidkamikaze10]

As a Dragongate fan, I say yes to a million stables! It shows who is aligned with who, and makes loners truly look different.

[Deleted]

There was just a lengthy discussion on this in the Scorpio Sky thread.

AEW draws its influence from NJPW. I, personally, find it more realistic that, in a dangerous environment like AEW, people would have allies, than for everyone to just be going it alone.

[Derk!]

I honestly don't care for QT, but I will say the only positive of him having a heel stable is Nick Comorato(sp?) being a heel again. Dude lost something when he aligned himself with the Nightmare Family...

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

If AEW can continue to make compelling and great TV featuring 10,000 stables then I do not f***ing care, bring on the chaos, I am absolutely entertained and invested in the stables and what they are involved in, and the formation of QT's stable and beatdown was awesome.

You can have guys stand out from stables, have singles matches, tag matches, multi-mans, and use them to elevate several feuds or one big war all at once. If it's done right, I really don't see the issue. it maximizes timefor several wrestlers to get over and get exposure, and as said, they're all pretty darn fun, so I' good. If you aren't, well opinions I guess.

[kingoftheindies]

Eh... doesn't bug me. Sure can it be seen as a cop out, but it allows for more combinations of matches that can help extend feuds and give different match ups that help keep things fresh and allow wrestlers to get breathers. It's also a way to book multi man matches to set up title matches for TV.

Right now there is a program going on that includes Matt Hardy, Adam Page, Private Party, The Dark Order, Butcher/Blade, Allie, Sting, Darby Allin, Nyla Rose, and Shida with a TNT match that could add JD Drake, Ryan Nemeth, Bonnie, and Avalon involved. There is legit a way they can get a years worth of programs and keep it fresh if they wanted to

[Mike Strike]

At this point I think they're doing it solely for grouping everyone on the video game's character select screen like in the AKI games.

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

I think they’re mostly doing it well, but that’s my take. I like that wrestlers finally have friends again, at least.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

I like stables all over because 1. it's good and logical for any given wrestler to have a given other wrestler or two as backup or tag partners for when they need tag partners, and 2. it helps build more matches out of feuds. It's been woven into the booking style enough at this point that I think the women's side is suffering for having too few clear alliances to do the same things - Khan's booking style is top-down built around these kinds of alliances, and he seems to be going uphill any time he doesn't have the various booking advantages that they come with.

[smokinvokoun86]

I personally love it. No one is alone really. Plus it makes the whole company feel cohesive, that everyone is connected somehow and, to me, that helps book matches that make sense.

I also kinda like it because it almost makes AEW a team sport version of wrestling.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

It might seem like sensory overload somewhat, but I get it from a standpoint of trying to give as many people as possible a little bit of SOMETHING to do. They're trying to divide something like four hours of broadcast time per week among close to 100 people (and that's just those who are officially signed) and still have it be time of actual substance.

[Bang Bang Bart]

I know people cite Gang Warz as a example of when stables go wild, but the main issue with that wasn’t so much the volume of stables, but the racial overtones and lack of purpose the Gang Warz had.

[Larryhausen]

Yup. Heaven forbid people have friends.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Honestly it allows people to be associated with more than just their tag partner or the one or two people that they feud with at a time.

[Rave]

As long as it's not "oh we're both heel/face we should be friends!" which WWE tends to pull too much or "we've got these great folks we're throwing them together because shutup" ala Lifeblood, people having alliances and friendships are fine. Just gets more people in the mix who normally wouldn't be included.

[Deleted]

More stables. I want a full King of Trios, King of Quadruples, & a King of Cincos! ALL THE STABLES!

But really, this is a promotion founded by members of the most influential stable since WCW closed. I'm not surprised they are group heavy, and I like it

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

While the use of stables in AEW is close to what I consider ideal (erring in the direction of too many as opposed to too few, which is the norm), I sympathize with those who don't like it because, honestly, the slate of stables and alliances is a little more busy and plentiful than, say, mid-00's Dragon Gate (a promotion that was booked entirely around stables to an even greater degree than AEW). AEW's stables don't always come with the things that make stables easier to read, like matching outfits across the board, coherent group gimmicks, or recognizable logos (although some have these things).

Like, the HFO is two tag teams who are working under the same leader. The five members together don't have a whole lot in common across the board. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind - the HFO is likely going to have a shifting membership, probably with Butcher & Blade drifting out of it and into a different heel's angle as is clearly their deal. But, looking at the other stables: the Inner Circle have a coherent group dynamic, but not really a group gimmick or look - if they have a logo that's consistent across their merch, I can't pull it out of my memory; the splitting Nightmare Family is mostly tied together by the meta considerations of who trained where, and thus is packed with a lot of bland-looking rookies, exacerbated by the fact that they're a huge stable that rarely does anything together except accompany Cody Rhodes to the ring; the Pinnacle don't have a gimmick tying them together besides being the 80s-est wrestlers on the roster, and honestly, the sheer attractiveness of MJF and Wardlow is the main thing saving them from looking just as bland as the Nightmare Family; Team Taz is similar to the Inner Circle in being coherent in dynamic and attitude but notsomuch in look (mostly because of Ricky Starks, but Hook also sticks out). Death Triangle is outright just one dude and a tag team who happen to both be singles stars. Oh, and the Bullet Club's big uniting aspect is history from another promotion a few years ago.

So like, it makes sense to me that some people can look at the HFO, the Inner Circle, the Nightmare Family, the Pinnacle, Death Triangle, the Bullet Club, and Team Taz and just see a lot of noise.

So AEW is booked around stables, but the roster isn't organized in such a way that the wrestlers look like it. The Dark Order actually stand out by being the stable that actually has a strong visual aesthetic that's uniform across the membership. They would fit right in to the aforementioned mid-00's Dragon Gate, where every stable had a flag, signature colors adapted across a range of outfit designs, and a specific theme. I don't think that every stable should have those things, but there is probably some middle ground to be had for the rest of the roster's groups.

[defectiveepitaph]

Disagree. I want more stables.

[Dub H]

Mar 31, 2021 23:53:52 GMT -5 defectiveepitaph said:

Disagree. I want more stables.

Well I want more tables

[Chiral]

Apr 1, 2021 1:29:16 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Mar 31, 2021 23:53:52 GMT -5 defectiveepitaph said:

Disagree. I want more stables.

Well I want more tables