Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Aug 5, 2020 23:20:30 GMT -5
....Guess we'll see. They definitely didn't get much time this week and Shida desperately needs a feud for All Out. With the likes of Allison Kay, Thunder Rosa, and Ashley Vox no longer attached to NWA, they really need to pull a trigger imo. Shida's open challenge has been utterly pointless thus far. Cody's weekly challenger and Shida's non-existent challengers send the message the Women's Title doesn't matter unlike the TNT Title, which is a secondary men's title to boot, sorry but the optics are terrible on this. Shida said any girl that wanted to step up could, and there I guess haven't been many takers with the tag cup going on? I do agree Shida should be out there defending the belt if she said anyone who wants it should take it, but it's not too late to save it.
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Celgress
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Post by Celgress on Aug 5, 2020 23:22:26 GMT -5
Shida's open challenge has been utterly pointless thus far. Cody's weekly challenger and Shida's non-existent challengers send the message the Women's Title doesn't matter unlike the TNT Title, which is a secondary men's title to boot, sorry but the optics are terrible on this. Shida said any girl that wanted to step up could, and there I guess haven't been many takers with the tag cup going on? I do agree Shida should be out there defending the belt if she said anyone who wants it should take it, but it's not too late to save it. It almost seems as if they've completely forgotten about Shida's open challenge which is both hilarious and sad. The situation speaks volumes to AEW's priorities.
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Allie Kitsune
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Post by Allie Kitsune on Aug 5, 2020 23:24:10 GMT -5
On the issues AEW hasn't had control over, it's certainly pretty notable how many of their women have been impacted by the pandemic, whether due to health issues or travel restrictions, including a decent slice of their upper card women and quality part-timers who could be relied on to put on solid matches or be good one-off challengers for the title (off the top of my head: Riho, Priestly, Shanna, Hayter, Yuka, Sakura). This undoubtedly undid a lot of possible booking/story ideas, then got combined with injuries to Baker and Statlander and extended absences for Swole and Nyla to make for a rough time for them. They signed Anna Jay and Abadon presumably to try and make up some of the difference, but if I had to guess they probably want a story to start for each of them before pushing either towards Shida; both of them being back on programming this week hopefully bodes well on that front. I'll also give them this: despite the reduced roster, they actually do have multiple storylines for people who aren't just challenging the champion going on in the division, mainly the Swole/Baker feud, the Allie/Brandi tension, and making a point of promoting Nyla getting a manager, which potentially dovetails into storylines of Vickie looking for other talent to sign. Doing this while Shida acts as the "open challenge" workhorse champion is at least a decent holding pattern until the roster numbers get back up, and admittedly it's not easy to dedicate a ton of ring time to it when you still have so many people missing and when the biggest story of those three, Swole/Britt, involves one participant who's injured right now and another who could have to step back at a moment's notice due to her immune system issues. Lot of tough luck, here, to be sure, since I think you're basically left with Shida, Penelope, Nyla, Brandi, and Allie as the full-time available women who don't need to be built up too much before getting them into storylines and who can go without restrictions in the ring. All of that said I do think questions need to be asked, and where it sticks out the most is how successful Impact's been in recent months with bringing in some quality women to their roster, including notable names like Purrazzo and Kimber Lee as well as up and comers like Tasha Steelz. Even ROH was starting to get their women's roster into a better place before the pandemic hit, and their division couldn't have gotten much lower than where it was around the end of 2019. If promotions with fewer resources than AEW can pull that off, why can't they? As mentioned previously, nobody's doubting that AEW faces a tough challenge in trying to compete with WWE for upper echelon female talent, but if the other companies can bring some names in, then what's the holdup with AEW? It's possible that some women just aren't looking to sign for whatever reason; I imagine some will go with a smaller promotion where they feel there's more a guarantee they'll get featured in a top spot, thus building up their asking price next time they're in the market for a new contract and might have the bigger companies knocking, for example, something plenty of guys do, as well. But it's still curious how it's panned out this way when AEW is one of the few companies currently running regular shows and hiring while being capable of spending more money than the smaller promotions. I'm interested in hearing if there's something driving that, whether it's bad luck, down to individual business choices, or if there's some kind of perception built up about signing there at this stage. Basically, I doubt there's ill intent on AEW's part, and there's been a lot of rotten luck for them given world circumstances, too, but the numbers are the numbers and it still stands out. Again, I think at least some of this comes down to the individual talent; like, I have a hard time imagining that there isn't a contract waiting for Priscilla Kelly, yet she remains unsigned. But again, when Impact's able to rebuild their women's division pretty quickly during the pandemic it does raise an eyebrow. Sort of wonder if Kylie Rae choosing to sign with Impact after leaving AEW is in any way related. Just, if there are things we're just not privy to that make some women's talent gun-shy (whatever it might be).
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Celgress
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by Celgress on Aug 5, 2020 23:27:02 GMT -5
It’s like Kenny lost interest in booking the division. That's the one thing I wouldn't say. It feels like there is engagement there, because there is still good content. The thing is that that content has to be warped and stretched in these tiny little bite size pieces in order to make sure that the worthwhile matches don't happen before the big shows. Britt/Swole is legitimately a fantastic feud where every beat is creative and interesting, but it's also got a month left until it produces an actual match. That wouldn't be bad, if it weren't the only thing happening for the women besides a tournament relegated to Youtube and the occasional title matches. But the budget...they sure seem to have money for every huge white guy that becomes available to add to their beyond stacked men's roster, but not for enough women to actually fill out a roster? The tag tournament is absolutely helping, because both matches so far have had great booking and interesting seeds for the future, but they really won't solve the issues with the roster unless they commit however many million more dollars per year it'll take to fill out the numbers to where Penelope Ford has something, anything to do on a given week besides beat up Kenzie Paige or whatever. Yup, which is just sad. For example, I like Not Zack Ryder as much as the next fan but was his acquisition really needed at this junction when the Women's Division is an afterthought on Dynamite and minority representation in the upper mid-card and upper card is sorely lacking? I hate to be that fan, but, yeah.
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Post by Cyno on Aug 5, 2020 23:28:44 GMT -5
Put the tag tournament matches on Dynamite instead of their little corner of Youtube and that alone would be a decent short-term "fix." Both matches were not only solid in their own right, but would be a good showcase of fresh women's talents like Anna Jay and Tay Conti.
There's still long term problems to be addressed but that's something you can at least do in the now to make it seem like you don't think of the division as an afterthought.
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Celgress
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by Celgress on Aug 5, 2020 23:32:38 GMT -5
Put the tag tournament matches on Dynamite instead of their little corner of Youtube and that alone would be a decent short-term "fix." Both matches were not only solid in their own right, but would be a good showcase of fresh women's talents like Anna Jay and Tay Conti.
There's still long term problems to be addressed but that's something you can at least do in the now to make it seem like you don't think of the division as an afterthought.
I'd settle for the tournament to be on Dark. I don't understand why the matches have to be their own thing on Monday night of all nights. It is a perplexing move.
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Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby
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Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Aug 5, 2020 23:40:52 GMT -5
Put the tag tournament matches on Dynamite instead of their little corner of Youtube and that alone would be a decent short-term "fix." Both matches were not only solid in their own right, but would be a good showcase of fresh women's talents like Anna Jay and Tay Conti.
There's still long term problems to be addressed but that's something you can at least do in the now to make it seem like you don't think of the division as an afterthought.
I'd settle for the tournament to be on Dark. I don't understand why the matches have to be their own thing on Monday night of all nights. It is a perplexing move. It makes sense if you look at the tournament less as a product in and of itself, and more as a place to workshop the division. They don't have untelevised dark matches or a developmental league, so this sort of weird side project makes some sense as a way to find a few things that work. It's also designed in such a way that they can try out someone like Ariane Andrew without actually committing to her. But like...it would have been nice if they had at least given us a name or two on Dynamite tonight. Is the rest of the tournament just going to be the full extent of women we've seen during the quarantine era? It'd be nice to think that they signed some of the women who have been practically begging AEW on social media to give them a look, and that we might see them on Monday - especially the top tier who don't seem to have upcoming bookings. But if you're going to have LuFisto, Nicole Savoy, and/or Hyan on that show, wouldn't you want to, like...mention that at least one of them is going to be there...? Suggesting that they don't have anyone that they feel is worth mentioning ahead of time. That might lead to a pleasant surprise like Tay Conti, or it might just lead to disappointment come Monday that it's just more of the same faces rearranged.
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Post by Bang Bang Bart on Aug 5, 2020 23:44:39 GMT -5
Put the tag tournament matches on Dynamite instead of their little corner of Youtube and that alone would be a decent short-term "fix." Both matches were not only solid in their own right, but would be a good showcase of fresh women's talents like Anna Jay and Tay Conti.
There's still long term problems to be addressed but that's something you can at least do in the now to make it seem like you don't think of the division as an afterthought.
I'd settle for the tournament to be on Dark. I don't understand why the matches have to be their own thing on Monday night of all nights. It is a perplexing move. Next week’s Dynamite is apparently a Tag Team Appreciation Night gimmick, so that’d be a perfect reason to have a couple Deadly Draw matches on the show.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Aug 5, 2020 23:50:56 GMT -5
Put the tag tournament matches on Dynamite instead of their little corner of Youtube and that alone would be a decent short-term "fix." Both matches were not only solid in their own right, but would be a good showcase of fresh women's talents like Anna Jay and Tay Conti.
There's still long term problems to be addressed but that's something you can at least do in the now to make it seem like you don't think of the division as an afterthought.
I'd settle for the tournament to be on Dark. I don't understand why the matches have to be their own thing on Monday night of all nights. It is a perplexing move. I will say this, the tag tournament's presentation gave me some Mae Young Classic vibes, which is definitely a positive. If nothing else, one of the reasons WWE's Women's Division is so robust is because they got a lot of talent over in a short time due to a standalone tournament show, twice. So aping that format isn't the worst idea on the planet. The problem I see with this week's episode is that they ran one Women's match, Big Swole vs. Reba/Rebel, and it was really short with only one of the wrestlers actually being an active wrestler. If you have a women's match that's really just an angle, then it needs to be supplemented with another match on the show that's a bit more fulfilling. They could have easily filmed content with any of the women present for the women's tournament for Dynamite, but chose to use the time on a Sammy Guevara vs. Matt Hardy angle, that I think would have been more valuable to have on DARK. If you want to help that show out, why not do some angles there so people feel incentivized to tune on YouTube, and then do a quick recap on Dynamite so people can't complain that they didn't see it.
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Post by moxfan1 on Aug 5, 2020 23:55:39 GMT -5
That's the one thing I wouldn't say. It feels like there is engagement there, because there is still good content. The thing is that that content has to be warped and stretched in these tiny little bite size pieces in order to make sure that the worthwhile matches don't happen before the big shows. Britt/Swole is legitimately a fantastic feud where every beat is creative and interesting, but it's also got a month left until it produces an actual match. That wouldn't be bad, if it weren't the only thing happening for the women besides a tournament relegated to Youtube and the occasional title matches. But the budget...they sure seem to have money for every huge white guy that becomes available to add to their beyond stacked men's roster, but not for enough women to actually fill out a roster? The tag tournament is absolutely helping, because both matches so far have had great booking and interesting seeds for the future, but they really won't solve the issues with the roster unless they commit however many million more dollars per year it'll take to fill out the numbers to where Penelope Ford has something, anything to do on a given week besides beat up Kenzie Paige or whatever. Yup, which is just sad. For example, I like Not Zack Ryder as much as the next fan but was his acquisition really needed at this junction when the Women's Division is an afterthought on Dynamite and minority representation in the upper mid-card and upper card is sorely lacking? I hate to be that fan, but, yeah. I don't think his addition has anything. It's not like there's a Keith Lee they passed on to add Ryder/Cardona. Plus it's not like they didn't just sign minority last week in Eddie Kingston. Or Ricky Starks a month ago. I know people want them to add more African Americans and use them in upper card. But they aren't going to do that. Unless tv guy guys become available for that spot. They aren't signing anyone straight off Indies and putting them in that spot. No matter what color or their skin is. As for woman division. Obviously Cardona signing doesn't impact that division either. Because it's not like they can't sign woman to improve the roster. I think it comes down to Kenny Omega and Brandi did a horrible job putting the woman division together overall. Omega signing so many international talent who don't live in US. Yes I know you can't predict pandemics. But you should have little easier access to talent then that. While Brandi wanted Awesome Kong even though she's washed up. Or someone like Saddie Gibbs etc. Yes they had bad luck losing Statlander and Baker to injures. Mixed with all international talent unable to get in the country. But they also passed on Mercedes Martinez and Purrazzo for some reason. Which look like major mistakes right now. Basically the woman division is Shida, Nyla Rose, Baker from wheelchair, Big Swole and Ford right now. So when that's all you got. It's easy to pass on giving them much tv time every week. AEW really needs to find and sign 3 or 4 girls during this tournament and revamp the womans division. Because right now with Indies, unable talent and bad talent decisions. Well they have by fair weaks main stream wrestling woman division.
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Post by moxfan1 on Aug 5, 2020 23:57:24 GMT -5
Put the tag tournament matches on Dynamite instead of their little corner of Youtube and that alone would be a decent short-term "fix." Both matches were not only solid in their own right, but would be a good showcase of fresh women's talents like Anna Jay and Tay Conti.
There's still long term problems to be addressed but that's something you can at least do in the now to make it seem like you don't think of the division as an afterthought.
I'd settle for the tournament to be on Dark. I don't understand why the matches have to be their own thing on Monday night of all nights. It is a perplexing move. I think did seperate show to make tournament stand out and feel important. Rather then tossed in part or random Dark matches.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Aug 6, 2020 0:07:43 GMT -5
I'd settle for the tournament to be on Dark. I don't understand why the matches have to be their own thing on Monday night of all nights. It is a perplexing move. I think did seperate show to make tournament stand out and feel important. Rather then tossed in part or random Dark matches. And it worked, Deadly Draw nearly doubled DARK's average viewership.
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Heartbreaker
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Post by Heartbreaker on Aug 6, 2020 0:12:41 GMT -5
I'd say this women's division is ass, but that's an insult to asses.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Aug 6, 2020 0:15:20 GMT -5
I honestly feel bad for Kenny because he wanted to bring Joshi wrestling to the forefront and make it seem like a really big deal in the US and then COVID happened and basically everyone but Shida got locked out of the division.
Then Baker got hurt, then Statlander got hurt, and other things like Nyla and Swole weren't around for WEEKS at one point.
Like it's as much real life events that caused this as much as you can say AEW needs to step up caring about the girls. Idk if it's a budget thing, or it's more the fact when the roster is allowed to return, they dont want the division bloated? I think that factors into things too. They need something for the immediate, but when the likes of Riho, Shanna, Yuka, Bea, even Hayter show back up, then what? I agree they need more talent, but I also think maybe until they get that second show they might not wanna expand the girls a ton, maybe not the case at all, just considering the possibilities.
They clearly care about the girls, they've made it abundantly clear, obviously actions speak louder than words, and they need something for Shida and fast, but the Deadly Draw is at least something they're trying to showcase and I appreciate it as well. Maybe show the Semifinals on Dynamite? The Quarterfinals finish on Monday, might not be a bad idea, but we'll see.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Aug 6, 2020 0:19:26 GMT -5
I'd say this women's division is ass, but that's an insult to asses. I think calling it "ass" is harsh. Shida, Ford, Swole, Nyla, and Baker are all good talents, and the likes of Abadon, Anna Jay, and Tay Conti are all extremely young into the business and have looked impressive so far It just needs a better presentation, and the girls are proven to get ratings when they get a good match on Dynamite, they just need to not be lax on it. I get there are a lot of storylines going on right now, but these are the type of things AEW will definitely have to listen to if they're gonna be open minded with fans.
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Heartbreaker
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Post by Heartbreaker on Aug 6, 2020 1:09:26 GMT -5
I'd say this women's division is ass, but that's an insult to asses. I think calling it "ass" is harsh. Shida, Ford, Swole, Nyla, and Baker are all good talents, and the likes of Abadon, Anna Jay, and Tay Conti are all extremely young into the business and have looked impressive so far It just needs a better presentation, and the girls are proven to get ratings when they get a good match on Dynamite, they just need to not be lax on it. I get there are a lot of storylines going on right now, but these are the type of things AEW will definitely have to listen to if they're gonna be open minded with fans. They have some good names, but that doesn't mean a thing when the company itself doesn't care about the division, then procedure to act dumb and condescending to these criticisms.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Aug 6, 2020 1:21:22 GMT -5
Like it's as much real life events that caused this as much as you can say AEW needs to step up caring about the girls. Idk if it's a budget thing, or it's more the fact when the roster is allowed to return, they dont want the division bloated? I think that factors into things too. They need something for the immediate, but when the likes of Riho, Shanna, Yuka, Bea, even Hayter show back up, then what? I agree they need more talent, but I also think maybe until they get that second show they might not wanna expand the girls a ton, maybe not the case at all, just considering the possibilities. At this point, you can't count on the Joshi ever coming back, same with the European girls. The mentality needs to be that they are not in AEW anymore, and they cross the bridge of reintegrating them if it ever happens. Therefore, they need to scour the United States indies for the best free agents available now, preferably those based around the Florida area. And they need to figure out a way to get them over ASAP so they can be on Dynamite yesterday. Nothing else is going to cut it. Right now, they are making WOMEN OF HONOR seem competent in comparison, and that's because they are making the same fundamental errors that RoH made in 2018.
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Post by xxshoyuweeniexx on Aug 6, 2020 1:39:28 GMT -5
I think calling it "ass" is harsh. Shida, Ford, Swole, Nyla, and Baker are all good talents, and the likes of Abadon, Anna Jay, and Tay Conti are all extremely young into the business and have looked impressive so far It just needs a better presentation, and the girls are proven to get ratings when they get a good match on Dynamite, they just need to not be lax on it. I get there are a lot of storylines going on right now, but these are the type of things AEW will definitely have to listen to if they're gonna be open minded with fans. They have some good names, but that doesn't mean a thing when the company itself doesn't care about the division, then procedure to act dumb and condescending to these criticisms. Lmao I like Kenny, but geez take criticism without being snarky. Maybe showcase more of your women’s division on your main show than in 3 minutes squashes? Dark is great, the tournament is great too, but comments like that make me think that he thinks this is acceptable.
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Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby
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Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Aug 6, 2020 1:55:14 GMT -5
At this point, you can't count on the Joshi ever coming back, same with the European girls. The mentality needs to be that they are not in AEW anymore, and they cross the bridge of reintegrating them if it ever happens. Therefore, they need to scour the United States indies for the best free agents available now, preferably those based around the Florida area. And they need to figure out a way to get them over ASAP so they can be on Dynamite yesterday. Nothing else is going to cut it. Right now, they are making WOMEN OF HONOR seem competent in comparison, and that's because they are making the same fundamental errors that RoH made in 2018. So very much this. It's even more frustrating because, like...they have built people. Even leaving aside the joshi, nearly every individual woman they have pushed has been built up into a legitimate name, regardless of how unknown she might have been before signing with AEW. If they can pluck a rookie with a cool gimmick from the obscure Colorado indies and make her a big deal overnight; if they can take a limited part-time wrestler from IWC and build her into one of the biggest movers of ratings and merch on the show; if they can take an obscure power wrestler that few people had heard of and build her into a top monster with a major aura; if they can hire a rookie on her seventh match or whatever and get people excited to see her; and, even moreso, if they can then use those built up individuals to turn an NXT washout into someone to watch...then why on Earth does the pace of new hires give the vibe that nobody is good enough for them? That's where the frustration lies. They can do right by almost every individual woman, but still fail to actually keep the whole division engaging on a week to week basis.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2020 3:38:19 GMT -5
I feel like at this point they've pretty much entirely settled into going, "Eh, just have Britt do something funny, that's all the division needs." And yeah, Britt's great, but it really does just feel like her two minutes or so an episode are the only substance the division gets. You get matches and other segments and stuff but only Britt really feels like she's being treated like she matters.
If nothing else it really shouldn't be that hard to find room to get at least two women's matches on the show a week. You can easily fit it in by cutting five minutes here, five minutes there from the other stuff. Plus if you got more women on Dynamite you could also fit more star power on Dark with whoever you're not using at the time.
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