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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 21:10:04 GMT -5
That confirms to me that Hangman will return as a heel and the Elite will dangle Swerve in front of him to get them to do their bidding. I was kind of hoping for a mystery fifth man for each team, with Hangman appearing to be on Team AEW's side, only to end up siding with the Bucks to become their chosen champion and to take out Swerve. Only weird thing with Team AEW here is I was thinking they'd go entirely with guys who aren't really "AEW Originals", since I think this team's gonna fall to the Elite, so Eddie stands out as the odd one out here.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 21:07:30 GMT -5
Good, follow up for Eddie losing to Okada!
...and he's teaming with Danielson? Well, then.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 21:04:31 GMT -5
Crowd booing they dont get Copeland vs Kyle like Copeland didn't just kill himself for them lol Nah, they're booing Vancouver. Oilers vs. Canucks is going on right now.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 21:02:21 GMT -5
that is no face. willow is the face here Not a doubt in my mind at this point.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 21:00:36 GMT -5
Mercedes announcing herself for Anarchy in the Arena, obviously.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 20:57:08 GMT -5
I heard a some talk earlier today about when someone "feels" like an AEW wrestler vs. "feeling" like a WWE wrestler.
I think part of the reason Brody works so well for a lot of people is that he just feels like an AEW guy with how he works; the match Copeland and Buddy had last week wasn't awful, per se, but it felt more like watching a WWE match (e.g. drawn out opening phase, but a good portion of the match's body feeling unimportant so that most of the emphasis on the ending, etc.), and that just feels weird when you're watching Dynamite.
Now you've got Copeland and Brody just annihilating each other here and, uh, yeah, it feels like you're watching Dynamite.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 20:34:12 GMT -5
Jericho needs to buy Hook a $25 Starbucks gift card for hitting him with a bat.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 15:26:36 GMT -5
Essentially USA got a good discount to keep the show on to cover WWE until the Netflix deal starts (which always seemed like the most likely outcome): Makes sense: WWE needed this, couldn't really afford to have that kind of time off for Raw before transitioning to Netflix and risk people getting out of the habit of watching, so NBC likely named their price.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 14:59:38 GMT -5
Mets/Cards postponed today given the forecast of "tennis ball-sized hail", tornados in the region, and Busch Stadium asking fans to seek shelter in the concourse and restrooms.
Unfortunately, the one mutual off day both teams have would be after a Mets series in Cleveland, which would create a scenario where the Mets would play 27 days in a row. Don't think that's happening.
Ah well, they got to avoid Sonny Gray, at least?
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 14:49:32 GMT -5
Some would say why didnt TK say this on NFL network....
I mean, I think it's pretty simple: he knows WWE's done a good job of deflecting/avoiding/whatever else you want to call it questions and peeks into the whole lawsuit situation, so he wanted to bring it up with the Weinstein comments and get people to go "oh, right, almost forgot about that..." The stuff both companies use to go after one another are a lot more measured than people think; most of this shit is a pretty thoroughly calculated media strategy. Doesn't mean we all have to like it or that said strategy is always effective or right or whatever, but 99% of this shit since this media war started isn't at all offhand or said without forethought right now, and that includes everything from how Punk's interview was presented Mania weekend to Khan making the Weinstein reference.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 8, 2024 14:40:59 GMT -5
I'll say what I say every @#$%ing time that piece of shit tries to end another career: he's the most protected player in the NHL, the league and even the analysts do nothing but worship him, and there's no logical reason why.
The mother@#$%er took Sydney by God Crosby, one of the league's golden boys and a legitimate ratings draw, out of the playoffs with an elbow, and the league did nothing about it. He routinely aims to injure, and most frequently does it via elbow; it's not a case of "oh, the guy who got hit just wasn't keeping his head up", it's not leading with a shoulder or a body blow, he blatantly aims to injure and concuss with his @#$%ing elbow, and the NHL does nothing about it, and actually goes out of their way to praise him, instead.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 7, 2024 5:34:12 GMT -5
Said it in another thread, but my fantasy booking on this is that phase one of this story ends with a group of "non-day one, but still invested in AEW" types (Copeland, FTR, etc.) uniting to take down the Elite, but ultimately failing; maybe the big fight ends with the return of Hangman, who ends up siding with the Bucks as their new "chosen champion" they'll throw at Swerve, since Okada will likely still be Continental Champ at that point.
This sets the stage for the big heroes of the story to be those "day one" types, or at least babyfaces who are now associated with AEW as the place where they broke through: Swerve tops the list, but a healthy Darby could be involved, maybe Eddie, Daniel Garcia, guys like that.
Maybe in between you do something with the BCC, but Elite vs. BCC was a feud not all that long ago, so I'd get not retreading that ground despite the change in who's part of the Elite.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 7, 2024 5:25:46 GMT -5
I'm sure we can rush AR Fox into a main event possition by All Out right? Gimme Hell of War 2! All honesty, they might be able to do something with that in a short program, maybe a few weeks with a blowoff match on Dynamite - just have the Bucks throwing all of Swerve's past sins at him, with Fox being someone he got to turn and then betrayed, anyway. You wouldn't build a PPV around it since Fox has been in ROH for awhile, but something brief where he pops back up as part of an EVP scheme could work.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 7, 2024 5:23:04 GMT -5
Yeah, this is absolutely a credit where it's due situation: Jericho's just too damn good at this whole pro graps thing to not figure something out after awhile and make a gimmick and angle that works, and the Learning Tree idea is working amazingly so far.
And yes, it's absolutely a shot at CM Punk, and why the hell not.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 6, 2024 17:09:20 GMT -5
The only thing you want is for Swerve as world champ to feel like he's the most important thing on the show. I think you can get away with not doing that with a more made champ. Even Joe I think you could. But Swerve is new and needs the attention to keep building his name. They made this mistake with Hangman's run. I worry his match with Christian could be 3rd or 4th most interesting match on the card. Depending what else they book But it's a tricky thing to manage. You want Swerve to succesfully defend the belt but you can't just have him burn through Okada and Ospreay and MJF straight away. I think Christian is a good opponent but it needs a hot build and I think leaning on The Elite story could help. I'd have just gone Perry personally for ppv. Perry can take the loss. Yeah he's hot now and theres interest in him and you don't want to undercut him too much but lets be honest, he's eventually going to settle into young boy of the stable and Okada is and always will be the final boss of the Elite. I like Perry but in 6 months time he will be the job guy in the Elite so strike while interest is high I don't think there's a prayer they want that for Perry; dude came back red hot with this angle, they know full well that if he's the job boy by World's End then it'll be a major @#$% up.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 6, 2024 16:03:08 GMT -5
Ok, ok, let's see, today I think we'll do....Skies of Arcadia! Armada Battle (vs. Galcian)
Final Battle
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Post by HMARK Center on May 6, 2024 15:16:50 GMT -5
I can only ever go with the original decade, it's the WWF/E era with which I'll always feel the biggest connection.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 6, 2024 12:05:27 GMT -5
Both Swerve's reign and the EVP takeover storyline are brand new. You need time for both to get their legs under them, because if you have your brand new champ and huge breakout 'this guy is now a centerpiece of our company and wasn't planned to be from day one' star make a beeline right for the evil bosses, you endu p super trapped. Either Swerve gets a big one over on them to establish himself as the huge star, or he needs to face setbacks that immediately toy with his momentum. Letting them send Swerve's way a guy who isn't associated with them, who Swerve has history with, and who we know there'll be some amazing segments out of en route to a match built well by the new top face and one of the most consistent heels in the company, gives Swerve those pieces. He's already made clear his dislike of the situation and they're already shooting retribution his way for it as their very first act as the guys running the show. Say this runs until Wembley or Chicago, hell say it runs to Full Gear; the storyline takes time to grow. If Swerve mounts an offensive right now, he has to lose by necessity. Jack Perry is recently back and Okada is both new and on that international title grind. Neither guy should be Swerve's first opponent for the sake of their own pushes, nor for the sake of Swerve actually getting some foundation under him. We've had two weeks of huge shocking Elite moments that set the stage for everything they're doing. I imagine this coming week, the Swerve segment is going to be the biggest segment of the show. But right now, the solution that keeps him away and the well built story that getsh im to fight them back are honestly the exact same path: establish himself on a credible filler opponent who he can do good character stuff with, and let the EVP thing go its way. Swerve is no underdog and he gains nothing from early failures. Yeah, you need Swerve at least in the orbit of the growing Elite takeover storyline, since you want your top names involved in all of this, but you can't go for the biggest possible matchups yet, not when you still need to build Perry and Okada up into consistent draws (I think they're absolutely on their way, but it takes more time) and Swerve needs his legs under him early in this run. My fantasy booking idea is that you keep Swerve in said orbit, but the first major offensive against the new Elite is undertaken by a small group with Copeland and FTR as the frontmen, with the understanding that this initial charge is being led by guys who aren't "day one" AEW talent but who've built up to the audience that they genuinely care about the company. Importantly, you have those babyfaces come up short; you make it the equivalent of the nWo beating the Horsemen to make it a bigger deal when Sting finally arrives. The key will be getting to the next phase, when the people who eventually take the Elite down are people who are either "day one" types or are at least much more coded as AEW wrestlers than they are as WWE wrestlers, Swerve being high on that list. He could drop the title to Perry, Okada, or maybe even a returning Hangman, but he needs to be involved in however this all gets resolved, which could potentially include him winning the belt back.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 6, 2024 10:29:59 GMT -5
Hot take, Mania 30 is a very mediocre show that starts strong and has a feel good finish. Just about everything in-between is pretty much trash. Is that even a hot take, though? Everyone talks about Bryan's win and Undertaker's loss, and...that's about it. My hot take (at least compared to the general views I’ve seen people give on the show) has long been that Mania 31 was just agony to sit through, but gets higher marks for a few high spots in the ladder match, and then Rollins taking the RKO and winning in the end. That show suuuuuuucked.
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Post by HMARK Center on May 6, 2024 9:19:26 GMT -5
All I know is that it feels like Mariah's going to betray Mina at Forbidden Door to keep the title on Toni...so that she can take the title from Toni, which will mean yet another betrayal, and I'm afraid my heart can't take all that.
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