Hikaru Shida Details The Struggles of Joshi Wrestlers in AEW

[AwamoriRock]

Feb 10, 2022 14:22:59 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I was so annoyed that Mei Suruga didn't even get a match in her recent excursion (unless I'd given up looking at the web show cards before she did).

She's returning to action in tjpw this week but that's several months without stepping in a ring, what a waste..

I mean she’s had matches in OZ and of course Choco since then but yeah her not being used on TV was just silly. Probably one of the easier layups to get over in even a brief stint and they just didn’t do it.

[markymark]

Feb 10, 2022 15:49:04 GMT -5 @kn said:

That hurts to read. I figured with Omega and his push of the Joshi wrestlers we'd see some major strides as that was one thing he's said he was pushing towards these past few years but I guess it's sorta like Cody Rhodes and his diversity talks. They can say they wanna do something all they want but at the end of the day that doesn't always work out like they want it to. They need to be better about this.

I will say this before it gets out of topic but Swole on a later podcast said that her comments even upset her friends from AEW(they contacted her in private), they changed their tune after they listened to the podcast.

[Deleted]

Feb 10, 2022 17:26:18 GMT -5 markymark said:

Feb 10, 2022 15:49:04 GMT -5 @kn said:

That hurts to read. I figured with Omega and his push of the Joshi wrestlers we'd see some major strides as that was one thing he's said he was pushing towards these past few years but I guess it's sorta like Cody Rhodes and his diversity talks. They can say they wanna do something all they want but at the end of the day that doesn't always work out like they want it to. They need to be better about this.

I will say this before it gets out of topic but Swole on a later podcast said that her comments even upset her friends from AEW(they contacted her in private), they changed their tune after they listened to the podcast.

Wow that's wild. I wonder what friends she was speaking on since I'm not sure who's close to who there. That's interesting.

[markymark]

Feb 10, 2022 17:10:35 GMT -5 AwamoriRock said:

Feb 10, 2022 14:22:59 GMT -5 Bo Rida said:

I was so annoyed that Mei Suruga didn't even get a match in her recent excursion (unless I'd given up looking at the web show cards before she did).

She's returning to action in tjpw this week but that's several months without stepping in a ring, what a waste..

I mean she’s had matches in OZ and of course Choco since then but yeah her not being used on TV was just silly. Probably one of the easier layups to get over in even a brief stint and they just didn’t do it.

She didnt have a work visa, that match she had on Dark was a tryout and she did well based on the reception she got, I hope she can manage to get a visa and return soon. She would be treated fine given that she meets TK supposed requirements(being under 25 and marketable)

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

Feb 10, 2022 17:03:46 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Feb 10, 2022 16:58:20 GMT -5 carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) said:

I mean "writer" is a very ambiguous term, and so I think what people are imagining here is a little too specific. If all you're going by is the WWE, there's a pretty obvious confound there: they have SHITTY writers (or at least writers who are forced to be shitty by McMahon and the way he works). Having writers isn't the same thing as having shitty writers.

The thing people keep mentioning is scripted promos, but... hell yes, have people backstage scripting promos! Some people work better with scripted promos. Why watch a mediocre ad-libber do something that'd be better if they had a script? It's the exact same reason you don't force a GOOD ad-libber to stick closely to a script.

Anyway, if the word "writer" is kryptonite for some weird reason, call the job of "person who creates stories for a television program" whatever you want and then hire that.

Thata the thing they dont need someone to create the stories , but someonw that could help guide and work with the less creative or communicate wrestlers. Maybe that is technically a writer but leaa so than the expected use of it.

But they do, because the "write your own stories, everyone!" is used to justify the lack of organization. It makes it so the people in charge are off the hook about finding stuff for people to do and filling all the time (and being responsible about not giving contracts to everyone in the whole world).

And (this hasn't happened much yet) it can turn pernicious, where someone gets passed over by the people in charge, and the assumption is it must be their own fault for not standing out with good enough ideas. Which, when certain groups (like "women") tend to have this happen to them more than others, can snowball.

Look, all I know is, AEW clearly has a handful of wrestlers they intend to feature, and a huge mob of wrestlers they will never, ever intend to feature. And this gets discouraging and depressing, when you realize it. And this state of affairs is, in large part, because no one ever sits down and looks over everything and tries to work out more than two or three storylines at any given time.




And I don't know about this writer/booker distinction. A booker is just a writer in a particular context, booking the matches. I don't know any more appropriate word for someone writing the storylines of a TV show than "writer," so I always get confused when people insist that's a bad term.

[Terry McConkey]

Feb 10, 2022 14:07:20 GMT -5 Rudy Gobert Fadeaway said:

Yeeeah AEW needs to be supporting their international wrestlers A Lot better than that, cause that bit about Emi is f***ing depressing as hell. 

Translators, ESL classes and cultural support would go a long way in ensuring the success of international wrestlers. It's criminal how primitive the wrestling business still is.

[Kalmia]

Letting wrestlers develop their own characters and pitch their own angles is awesome, and way preferable to having 40 writers writing by committee and pushing square pegs into round holes. But not everyone has the confidence or the personality to push for things, even if it's encouraged. It's even worse when you're not a native speaker.

I don't think AEW needs more writers, but more talent liaisons might help. People who have the job of being 'point' people that wrestlers can go to if they have problems or ideas and don't know how to move forward or who to go to. It could even just be other, more experienced wrestlers taking the roles and being there, willing to answer questions and put pitches forward.

[asuka007]

Also let’s not pretend there is not a bias involved to some degree.

Not a malicious one to be clear.

But AEW clearly has their “favorites.” If they did not love Jade for example (and she is merely one example), she would not be holding a title already, not with all the other women they have available.

Also if and idea that is pitched lines up more with what the people in charge are into, then there’s a greater chance they run with said idea than if not.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

I really dont think these are huge problems that can't be fixed easily either. Emi getting matches shouldn't be hard, even if it's just some on Rampage. She sells herself, and can get over just by doing her own thing.

I don't think they need writers, they just need more structure backstage. Potential hires like Regal would go a LONG way to helping sort this shit out, I hope they do it.

[lucas_lee]

People have been mentioning these problems from year two. If they didn't fix it now, it ain't getting fixed considering TK is thin skinned with critiques, I really doubt he'll fix aside from ESL classes

[Deleted]

Writers can be great if one allows them to do their job which is basically give structure to the creative process.

But TK seems a very stringent individual (creatively) in that a large part of his creative process seems to be that of giving the wrestlers themselves freedom to create(atleast the very top level talent) and so I doubt he wants to much that up by bringing in writers and then while not taking but shrinking that freedom to now they have to collaborate.

But from all I have seen AEW isn't so heavily into very TV show structured narratives as most of their stuff is within the confines of a traditional wrestling show so on that end he would not really need writers.

[crazydom]

The biggest problem with the women specifically is that everyone besides Jade and Britt is desperately fighting for screen time on the two tv shows. Even people like Thunder Rose and Shida who are extremely over with the crowd can just disappear for a month.

[asuka007]

The Rock had a writer. The thing is that writer worked with Dwayne and fundamentally understood who The Rock was as a character.

IDK why companies cannot do more of that these days?

[Abdullah]

There was one writer in WWE that wanted to use storyboards to show how every wrestler connected to each other, and have a book of continuity. He was laughed at.

Writers are 100% not a problem.
Writers shouldn’t have the absolute authority to be a problem.
The way WWE uses them (or doesn’t) is the issue.

We’ve now had Swole and Shida very politely address the fact that AEW really only books for their favorites, and the shiny new signings. We’ve now had at least two wrestlers say that, as performers, they shouldn’t also be expected to do the unpaid labour of writing angles for themselves. And they shouldn’t. I hope more fans take what they’re saying to heart.

[markymark]

Feb 10, 2022 21:59:09 GMT -5 Abdullah said:

There was one writer in WWE that wanted to use storyboards to show how every wrestler connected to each other, and have a book of continuity. He was laughed at.

Writers are 100% not a problem.
Writers shouldn’t have the absolute authority to be a problem.
The way WWE uses them (or doesn’t) is the issue.

We’ve now had Swole and Shida very politely address the fact that AEW really only books for their favorites, and the shiny new signings. We’ve now had at least two wrestlers say that, as performers, they shouldn’t also be expected to do the unpaid labour of writing angles for themselves. And they shouldn’t. I hope more fans take what they’re saying to heart.

Idk about booking for their favorites because Shanna was Kennys friend and got fired last year...

[markymark]

I didnt know where to put this but Shida is heading back to Japan again next month

[Deleted]

Feb 10, 2022 13:58:58 GMT -5 markymark said:

Feb 10, 2022 13:55:50 GMT -5 carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) said:

Sooner or later, AEW is going to have to start, y'know, like, writing their shows. It's starting to feel really WCWy in there.

Thing is only Vince Russo is offering his services for that so far

And Russo is, definitely, the last person you ever want near women in wrestling.

As far as writing them, I mean.  Cause he's proven time and time again his demeanor about them is entrenched in his 1990s video store brain where he watched many B-movie shlock where actresses were always in various states of undress and promising endless sex to the heroes at the end of movies.

To me, AEW does need to establish some ground rules as far as what do they want to do and who do they want to use, and with the women, it's like the instant they couldn't use the joshi, they decided "Nope, it's all Britt Baker now, nuts to anyone else".  Nyla and Hikaru were given practically nothing to work with during their championship reigns while Britt gets interviews every week to keep her stock high.  You wouldn't even know that Nyla Rose was a former women's champion with how infrequent her Dynamite appearances are.

[Deleted]

Feb 10, 2022 14:06:20 GMT -5 Cyno said:

I don't know how writers would actually do anything to address the issues Shida brings up.

At least listen?  Try to help with the wrestlers in getting them housing in the Jacksonville/Duval County area, as well as English language or ASL training in any shape?  I know writers for a wrestling show aren't social workers, but anything is better than nothing.

If you're going to use them, at least make them feel like they aren't aliens from another world.

[Cyno]

So have writers do anything but actually write and instead do things they aren't remotely qualified for?

Okay then...

[smokinvokoun86]

Feb 10, 2022 23:57:09 GMT -5 Cyno said:

So have writers do anything but actually write and instead do things they aren't remotely qualified for?

Okay then...

It’s the writers jobs to help wrestlers with character and storylines. But what they really need is coordinators/assistants or something to help international wrestlers get acclimated to the company and for a home. So in that instance, writers is probably not the right term.