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Post by romanstylesiii on Dec 24, 2020 18:33:51 GMT -5
His entrance and promos (which were really good) paint him as a dangerous wrestler who is not to be messed with, but when he wrestles, he acts goofy and does indy stuff that just kills his character and the illusion of pro wrestling It's just constantly stuff like this pic, or he will jump into the first row and start clapping for himself on matches on Dark. Makes me appreciate people like Goldust and Taker who connected their characters to their in-ring performances.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Dec 24, 2020 18:47:44 GMT -5
Comedy and heeling? Who does he think he is, the Four Horsemen?
Seriously, how many towns did Flair get his clothes torn off in by faces? Dozens? I get a lot of criticism of Spears, like that he had trouble getting any decent angles after a while, and that the weighted glove storyline didn't work well because no faces seemed to give a solitary shit about him doing stuff like trying to re-cripple Sorenson, but a heel being made a fool of wasn't one of the issues.
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Post by Instant Classic on Dec 24, 2020 18:50:38 GMT -5
Dude flat out sucks. That stupid Mohawk doesn’t help either.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Dec 25, 2020 0:03:16 GMT -5
Dude flat out sucks. That stupid Mohawk doesn’t help either. I have no issue with him having a Mohawk, I have issue with the fact the Mohawk is not symmetrical on his head. It like, careens to the right as it reaches the front, and it's weird.
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Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby
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Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Dec 25, 2020 0:18:02 GMT -5
I think the entrance/wrestling style disconnect is a very good point. There was clearly a point where AEW was considering him as a serious heel, and they just...never adjusted his presentation when he clearly settled into a different role. I think that his spot (from last December until the pandemic) of "Dark main event heel who sends the fans home happy via his humiliation" was about the best possible use of him.
Comedy is where I have always seen him shine, which might be another thing - he was given a manager who just did not play to his strengths, at all. Spears would probably have done better with someone like Vickie Guerrero or the late Larry Sweeney - a manager who is loud, larger than life, and more than a little silly. Instead, he was given Tully in the hopes that Tully's aura would rub off on him and make Spears come across as a threat, but like...Tully can talk, but he added absolutely nothing to Shawn Spears. He only barely adds anything to FTR, for that matter, but his dynamic with them is at least coherent and worth having. Spears and Tully was a total failure of a wrestler/manager combination.
EDIT: Just clicked in my head why Tully works with FTR but did not work with Shawn Spears: Tully is an accessory to FTR's existing gimmick. They have a fully realized deal of being 80's wrestling grognards who worship the "good ol' days" and treat anything that doesn't fit their aesthetic like it doesn't matter. Having an aging relic of their favorite bygone days hanging out with them, strategizing for them, and talking for them just makes that all come together. Putting Tully with Spears, though? It's like Spears had Tully as a manager instead of having a personality or gimmick, and Tully didn't even add anything aesthetically until the black glove...a gimmick that would have worked just as well (IE, poorly) if Spears didn't have an 80's wrestling legend in his corner.
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lucas_lee
Hank Scorpio
Heel turn is finished, now stripping away my personality
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Post by lucas_lee on Dec 25, 2020 1:43:00 GMT -5
Honestly his loaded glove gimmick really didn't do anything either
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2020 1:48:43 GMT -5
He's a solid hand, but in a company that's full of creme de la creme workers, solid hand just doesn't do it.
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MolotovMocktail
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Post by MolotovMocktail on Dec 25, 2020 1:53:24 GMT -5
I honestly think he should’ve kept the feud with Cody going, with Arn and Tully getting more involved as the former Horsemen kept clashing.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2020 1:54:12 GMT -5
He feels like he has no idea what character he's going for so he kind of just does multiple conflicting ones at once.
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Post by Ecks Ecks Ringout Ecks Ecks on Dec 25, 2020 2:49:02 GMT -5
I feel like when a lot of people say Spears sucks, what they really mean to say is he's not cut out to be main event tier. I think that's absolutely true, but he fits the bill perfectly as a mid to lower card heel.
Dude is awesome at bumping and selling, which means he excels at putting people over. Having a serious entrance but playing the fool with comedy spots helps to further that goal. Heel or face, I think AEW ought to keep him around in the Curtis Axel role, a veteran who's good at playing a goober and can help elevate the other talent.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Dec 25, 2020 2:59:24 GMT -5
I think the entrance/wrestling style disconnect is a very good point. There was clearly a point where AEW was considering him as a serious heel, and they just...never adjusted his presentation when he clearly settled into a different role. I think that his spot (from last December until the pandemic) of "Dark main event heel who sends the fans home happy via his humiliation" was about the best possible use of him. Comedy is where I have always seen him shine, which might be another thing - he was given a manager who just did not play to his strengths, at all. Spears would probably have done better with someone like Vickie Guerrero or the late Larry Sweeney - a manager who is loud, larger than life, and more than a little silly. Instead, he was given Tully in the hopes that Tully's aura would rub off on him and make Spears come across as a threat, but like...Tully can talk, but he added absolutely nothing to Shawn Spears. He only barely adds anything to FTR, for that matter, but his dynamic with them is at least coherent and worth having. Spears and Tully was a total failure of a wrestler/manager combination. EDIT: Just clicked in my head why Tully works with FTR but did not work with Shawn Spears: Tully is an accessory to FTR's existing gimmick. They have a fully realized deal of being 80's wrestling grognards who worship the "good ol' days" and treat anything that doesn't fit their aesthetic like it doesn't matter. Having an aging relic of their favorite bygone days hanging out with them, strategizing for them, and talking for them just makes that all come together. Putting Tully with Spears, though? It's like Spears had Tully as a manager instead of having a personality or gimmick, and Tully didn't even add anything aesthetically until the black glove...a gimmick that would have worked just as well (IE, poorly) if Spears didn't have an 80's wrestling legend in his corner. Just to riff on that last paragraph a bit more, not only do FTR revere the concept of the era Tully was a star in, but you can draw some very direct lines of influence down from Tully's work right to theirs; their look even takes a lot of cues from Arn and Tully. More than simply being an accessory spot who can further show the direction they live in, he's one of the most decorated people from that era and his tacit stamp of approval on them in-universe expresses that they really do live on as the next part of this style's lineage. Spears, on the other hand, felt like he got Tully just to bump up the drama of the Cody match, and once Spears overall kinda didn't work out, the partnership was on autopilot for a good while until finally Tully found someone he could bring something to his management of.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Dec 25, 2020 3:08:24 GMT -5
OK, something just clicked into my head just now that would have totally made the glove gimmick worth it.
WHY DID THEY NOT CALL THE LOADED PUNCH "A GOOD HAND?"
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Dec 25, 2020 3:42:22 GMT -5
OK, something just clicked into my head just now that would have totally made the glove gimmick worth it. WHY DID THEY NOT CALL THE LOADED PUNCH "A GOOD HAND?" That would have been f***ing perfect...
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Dub H
Crow T. Robot
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I ❤ Aniki
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Post by Dub H on Dec 25, 2020 5:08:44 GMT -5
I think tlhe got the short end.
He was shining with the tag search and heel that end up being embaraased but takrs himself too seriously.
He finally got a groove on ans they made that serious one note gimmick
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Dec 25, 2020 6:59:18 GMT -5
I still think The Search for Spears shouldn't have been cancelled, I really liked the dynamics he had with some of his team members before the pandemic derailed it.
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Lupin the Third
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Join the Dark Order....
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Post by Lupin the Third on Dec 25, 2020 10:29:23 GMT -5
Dude flat out sucks. That stupid Mohawk doesn’t help either. I have no issue with him having a Mohawk, I have issue with the fact the Mohawk is not symmetrical on his head. It like, careens to the right as it reaches the front, and it's weird.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Dec 25, 2020 13:14:38 GMT -5
Spears is the guy you have rising stars beat, or use as the big guy in a tag team. He's the guy who stands behind the little guy or the guy who can talk, wearing sunglasses,
He's not a bad worker, he's just WWE developmental-y and hasn't found the gimmick that makes people overlook that the way Trent? and others have.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Dec 25, 2020 14:06:16 GMT -5
He feels like he has no idea what character he's going for so he kind of just does multiple conflicting ones at once. Yup. I couldn't tell you anything consistent about his character. It seems to change every time I see him.
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Celgress
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The Superior One
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Post by Celgress on Dec 25, 2020 14:10:40 GMT -5
Spears is awful in his current role, but not all of it is his fault. Tully manages him yet he was zero interaction with FTR, WTH!? This would be like if Starks had zero interaction with Cage and Hobbs. It's bad booking with a heavy lack of direction.
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Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby
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Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Dec 25, 2020 14:36:37 GMT -5
Spears is awful in his current role, but not all of it is his fault. Tully manages him yet he was zero interaction with FTR, WTH!? This would be like if Starks had zero interaction with Cage and Hobbs. It's bad booking with a heavy lack of direction. That part's odd because they threw in a throwaway line on Dark that it's an example of Tully managing differently than Taz...but it mostly comes across like AEW is afraid that Spears will drag down FTR, and re-emphasizes the impression that there's no reason to care that Spears even exists. Hell, if you're going to have "manages different wrestlers separately" as a calling card, give him a woman or two to manage, since then the separation feels more natural.
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