Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby
Grimlock
Blanket burrito season is back, and I never left the blankets
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Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Feb 3, 2022 13:54:04 GMT -5
I like Brandi a lot outside of the context of wrestling. I’m willing to give her a lot of leeway as an on-screen personality too, because I want to see her succeed. But, stuff like last night is just bad. Not in how Brandi delivered her lines, or even the content. Just in the identity crisis of what her character is supposed to be. She comes out and gets booed. So she straight up cuts a heel promo on the City of Chicago. But, she’s interrupted by Dan Lambert of all people, who cuts a “don’t boo her, boo me!” promo. Then, Paige Van Zant comes out and Brandi immediately is portrayed as face in distress. It’s just such an identity crisis and comes across as AEW being in denial to me. I think heel (or delusional “face”) Brandi who is bitter and spiteful toward the fans who have rejected her and her husband would be awesome. But “please for the love of god this person is supposed to still be viewed as a face, see, she’s roasting everyone’s least favorite Boomer, we swear she’s cool and good” Brandi is just awful. I don’t even know how we were supposed to react to that segment last night. Oh, and as a caveat I absolutely love Lambert and think he’s one of the best heels currently going, so my distaste for that segment has nothing to do with his involvement except for the fact that it made no narrative sense. She comes off to me like someone who has a lot of control over her wrestling character but not a lot of understanding about how to really use that control. In that sense she has some of the biggest power in what she does with the least experience and actual wrestling know-how, and it hurts her entirely because of segments like last nights where nothing really connects. Brandi is someone who just needs someone writing for her, that's not something she good at. The way I see it is that her character has zero history of trial and error. Like, even a mediocre wrestler like Dani Jordyn grinding away on Dark has a coherent gimmick...because it's been low key workshopped in obscurity. That's someone who works low-rent indies in Florida and Georgia, had at least one gimmick change, and has tried out different ways to express the gimmick. By the time we see her as a jobber on Dark, she's got something that makes sense. Brandi went from a WWE announcer to a wrestler in the orbit of Cody Rhodes, who has been a top name everywhere he's gone since WWE, and she's a pretty good promo and a very good valet - so she's been mixing it up in stuff attached to her super-famous husband. But as a wrestler, she's no better than the jobbers on Dark (worse than many of them, really), but without ever grinding out a character in obscurity. In fact, she's dealing with the opposite of obscurity, because the segments she's in, the perception of nepotism, and the shadow of her husband are all imbuing her every action with importance and meaning that turn every experiment into a high stakes affair. Basically, she's losing out on developing a character because everyone already has an opinion on her. Aaannnnddd this is leading to her basically reinventing her entire gimmick every other time she shows up, wildly swinging for a hook that can work at the level she's working at, and short of her hitting on some kind of stroke of genius, I don't think it's really going to click in that scenario.
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Post by Ecks Ecks Ringout Ecks Ecks on Feb 3, 2022 13:59:30 GMT -5
She comes off to me like someone who has a lot of control over her wrestling character but not a lot of understanding about how to really use that control. In that sense she has some of the biggest power in what she does with the least experience and actual wrestling know-how, and it hurts her entirely because of segments like last nights where nothing really connects. Brandi is someone who just needs someone writing for her, that's not something she good at. I more or less feel this way, though I'm not sure it's necessarily due to lack of experience, as I'd put Cody in a similar category. Both strike me as talented performers with serious blind spots when it comes to understanding what the majority of the audience wants to see. The fact that both likely have considerable creative control and bounce ideas off each other only exacerbates the problem. Granted, that's 100% speculation on my part, and for all I know their angles could be Tony Khan's ideas, but it does feel like their segments exist in a weird WWE-style bubble, noticeably different in tone and content from the rest of the show.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Feb 3, 2022 14:05:18 GMT -5
She comes off to me like someone who has a lot of control over her wrestling character but not a lot of understanding about how to really use that control. In that sense she has some of the biggest power in what she does with the least experience and actual wrestling know-how, and it hurts her entirely because of segments like last nights where nothing really connects. Brandi is someone who just needs someone writing for her, that's not something she good at. The way I see it is that her character has zero history of trial and error. Like, even a mediocre wrestler like Dani Jordyn grinding away on Dark has a coherent gimmick...because it's been low key workshopped in obscurity. That's someone who works low-rent indies in Florida and Georgia, had at least one gimmick change, and has tried out different ways to express the gimmick. By the time we see her as a jobber on Dark, she's got something that makes sense. Brandi went from a WWE announcer to a wrestler in the orbit of Cody Rhodes, who has been a top name everywhere he's gone since WWE, and she's a pretty good promo and a very good valet - so she's been mixing it up in stuff attached to her super-famous husband. But as a wrestler, she's no better than the jobbers on Dark (worse than many of them, really), but without ever grinding out a character in obscurity. In fact, she's dealing with the opposite of obscurity, because the segments she's in, the perception of nepotism, and the shadow of her husband are all imbuing her every action with importance and meaning that turn every experiment into a high stakes affair. Basically, she's losing out on developing a character because everyone already has an opinion on her. Aaannnnddd this is leading to her basically reinventing her entire gimmick every other time she shows up, wildly swinging for a hook that can work at the level she's working at, and short of her hitting on some kind of stroke of genius, I don't think it's really going to click in that scenario. Yeah, that is the longer form extent of my part about 'wrestling know-how'. Not that she's dumb and doesn't understand anything, but that she's come up in such a fundamentally different way and without any of the grindy middle bits we take for granted in virtually everybody else we see. That's not just an issue of workshopping, but of one where she doesn't really understand the process of it. Brandi was never flopsweaty in a poorly lit VFW hall hoping a gimmick would land, and in wrestling that's not just how you develop, that's how you learn how to develop. The core pieces of how to build a character in wrestling are beyond her because that doesn't seem to be what she was taught. Her wrestling training seemed all physical because she was already running around on TV in a developed and finished act. That's why someoen really needs to step in and help her hone this stuff, she needs an editor worse than anyone else does, and she's aligned with Cody
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Post by robferatu on Feb 3, 2022 15:00:06 GMT -5
I'm glad to read that some people are enjoying the Brandi Rhodes stuff because to me, once again... She had the absolute worst segment on the program last night and she just radiates heel to me. As a wrestler and a promo, she's passable at best, but I get major Stephanie McMahon vibes for her in the sense that it's almost that whole nepotism thing where she takes up time and programming that should go to other performers in the women's division that deserve it more.
Also, the Men of the Year being caught up in the whole Cody Rhodes vortex isn't doing them any favors, and it's just all far too cringe worthy for me. I don't mind for lines to be blurred, and shades of gray, but it's well established that Dan Lambert is a heel and Brandi did nothing last night to solidify her or Cody as faces in the feud. It could potentially prove to be interesting going forward if part of the angle is Cody being an adamant baby face while his wife is a devoted heel, that could possibly be an interesting dynamic for them, but I'm at a point with the Nightmare Family where I just don't care anymore.
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Post by xxshoyuweeniexx on Feb 3, 2022 16:59:22 GMT -5
She comes off to me like someone who has a lot of control over her wrestling character but not a lot of understanding about how to really use that control. In that sense she has some of the biggest power in what she does with the least experience and actual wrestling know-how, and it hurts her entirely because of segments like last nights where nothing really connects. Brandi is someone who just needs someone writing for her, that's not something she good at. I more or less feel this way, though I'm not sure it's necessarily due to lack of experience, as I'd put Cody in a similar category. Both strike me as talented performers with serious blind spots when it comes to understanding what the majority of the audience wants to see. The fact that both likely have considerable creative control and bounce ideas off each other only exacerbates the problem. Granted, that's 100% speculation on my part, and for all I know their angles could be Tony Khan's ideas, but it does feel like their segments exist in a weird WWE-style bubble, noticeably different in tone and content from the rest of the show. Half of the time I expect a Cody or Brandi segment to be interrupted by dancing carsalesman Seth Rollins, like their shit would fit in right on the second hour of Raw.
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Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Feb 3, 2022 18:13:27 GMT -5
I did enjoy Lambert insulting her books and Brandi responding by squeezing them together to make them even bigger.
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r.
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Bye
Posts: 16,458
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Post by r. on Feb 3, 2022 18:15:42 GMT -5
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Feb 3, 2022 18:55:41 GMT -5
I'm just kind of lost about what her role is supposed to be. Like, I get Cody's thing, even if I don't always find it very entertaining: they're explicitly trying to avoid having heel authority figures, and they want to play with the tension of the crowd disliking someone booking themselves to win and do something new with it. Fine.
But when you turn on Dark and see Brandi come out and beat someone like Willow Nightingale, not even to mention actual wrestlers on the roster, that just comes off as a "power player" looking good at the expense of someone else. When she smirks about it, she looks like a heel. She IS a heel. So when she comes out and causes the (very very boring) heels to get cheered, but she's clearly supposed to be the face, it's just confusing for me as an audience member to watch.
And Cody's whole schtick here (which again is novel and I think stuff like it should be encouraged) is continuously hanging by a thread, because "everyone hates this face, and he really is a jerk some of the time, but doggone it he's not going to turn heel" is a pretty damn precarious balancing act. The addition of Brandi just doesn't help.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
FANatic
Writer, Lover of all things Wrestling. Analytical, Critical, Lovable (hopefully). Lets all have fun!
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Feb 3, 2022 19:09:46 GMT -5
I did enjoy Lambert insulting her books and Brandi responding by squeezing them together to make them even bigger. As we know, Brandi Rhodes REALLY likes literature
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Allie Kitsune
Crow T. Robot
Always Feelin' Foxy.
Celestial Princess in Exile.
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Post by Allie Kitsune on Feb 3, 2022 19:14:48 GMT -5
This storyline isn't doing anything for me, but I do think her face promo on Spears in the past was genuinely very good. I just kind of wish AEW wouldn't decide "hmm, we need like 2-3 Lambert angles right now", given we really don't. I assume that's happening to reduce how Hardy's stable was all over the show for a few months, but it doesn't make it not annoying. Very Memphis "Jimmy Hart is managing like every heel in the company." Lambert does not need to co-manage Archer imo, Jake has COPD I get it, but he doesn't need to say much, Archer's gotten so much better on the mic since his TNA-WWE days I do think he should be around PVZ, for obvious reasons as it's literally who he represents, but Archer isn't needed, but that might end next week at the earliest. Not to mention that Archer has been killing it as the surly tweener who kills faces and heels alike, and having Cranky Old Man Lambert back him just seems out of character for Lance.
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Feb 3, 2022 19:43:05 GMT -5
Dude, that's fine with me. I'm still going to like what I like in this company.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
FANatic
Writer, Lover of all things Wrestling. Analytical, Critical, Lovable (hopefully). Lets all have fun!
Posts: 235,164
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Feb 4, 2022 0:07:37 GMT -5
Sorry but I did laugh
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Feb 4, 2022 10:24:36 GMT -5
My favorite part of the segment was Brandi saying that Ethan Page was only signed because they wanted Josh Alexander.
…so the company that she works for(and where her husband is an EVP) is stupid. That’s basically what she said there.
Wretched segment. Let Crash TV rest in peace, already.
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Post by eJm on Feb 4, 2022 10:28:47 GMT -5
I’m still mad she beat Willow. Jeff got out of his 90 days early? And he got the rights from Impact for his character? Big news there. (Yes, I know you meant Willow Knightingale but let me have this!)
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champchumpchange
Don Corleone
Everyone needs to drive a vehicle, even the very tall.
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Post by champchumpchange on Feb 4, 2022 10:41:01 GMT -5
She's not a face, though, is she? She's clearly a heel.
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Post by uewfigfed on Feb 4, 2022 10:46:11 GMT -5
My favorite part of the segment was Brandi saying that Ethan Page was only signed because they wanted Josh Alexander. …so the company that she works for(and where her husband is an EVP) is stupid. That’s basically what she said there. Wretched segment. Let Crash TV rest in peace, already. If I was Ethan, I would've saluted to the camera, cuz I ain't offended my homey and former tag partner, has reached the ceiling of his journey (Impact Champ) at this point. But def gives off the "Johnny Ace signed the wrong one legged guy" vibe smfh
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petef3
Don Corleone
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Post by petef3 on Feb 4, 2022 10:48:10 GMT -5
My favorite part of the segment was Brandi saying that Ethan Page was only signed because they wanted Josh Alexander. …so the company that she works for(and where her husband is an EVP) is stupid. That’s basically what she said there. Wretched segment. Let Crash TV rest in peace, already. Like, that line made no sense to me personally because I literally have no idea who Josh Alexander is. I suspect the same was true of a lot of other people, though it did get a better response than the Amanda Nunes namedrop which similarly went over my head. (I know she's some MMA fighter, but I have no idea nor interest in how she relates to Dan Lambert or his gym.)
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asuka007
Fry's dog Seymour
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Post by asuka007 on Feb 4, 2022 11:51:45 GMT -5
If this leads to PVZ destroying Brandi in like two minutes, it will at least have a decent ending.
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Post by Mid-Carder on Feb 4, 2022 12:07:33 GMT -5
She has all the horrific nepotism of Stephanie McMahon, but Steph at least can be vaguely watchable.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2022 12:24:23 GMT -5
She has all the horrific nepotism of Stephanie McMahon, but Steph at least can be vaguely watchable. They both are kind of awful, but I’ll take Brandi over Stephanie every time. Authority era Stephanie is the second worst pro wrestling character ever for me, behind only post-2014 Brock Lesnar. Brandi hasn’t put herself anywhere close to the main event and, while her segments almost always suck, the show doesn’t fundamentally revolve around her like it did Stephanie and HHH in the Authority era. God, that was bad.
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