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Post by Lizuka #BLM on May 15, 2022 6:23:02 GMT -5
If I'm being honest I do think it was always going to be an uphill climb to make me like Hangman's title reign because the Kenny storyline dragged on for so f***ing long I was sick of the idea of him as champion like a year before he actually won it.
That said I did enjoy the Bryan feud a hell of a lot. Certainly more than anything either of them's done since.
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dbrussel
Don Corleone
Former WOW employee
Posts: 1,802
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Post by dbrussel on May 15, 2022 7:12:04 GMT -5
Uhmmm ....nope. It's basically the same but with other names. People like it less or more if those names are their faves or not
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Post by polarbearpete on May 15, 2022 7:33:49 GMT -5
Uhmmm ....nope. It's basically the same but with other names. People like it less or more if those names are their faves or not So everyone’s imagining it and it just has to do with their favorites not being featured? Understandable if you still think the booking is the same but others seem to disagree.
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Abdullah
Hank Scorpio
Thank you, Ishmeal Loves Bayley!
Posts: 6,420
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Post by Abdullah on May 15, 2022 7:43:56 GMT -5
I’m just gonna say it. The idea of AEW, the potential it has, is more interesting than AEW itself.
The idea that you have four vastly different guys, four pillars, who you could watch and support from the ground up, who can someday carry the company? Fantastic. Then you have a whole crew of guys and girls, from Dante Martin and Hook and Daniel Garcia to Jade Cargill and Will Hobbs, who are just as capable and might even be better? Epic. Then you have them mixing it up with veterans like Moxley, Punk, and Danielson? Chef’s freakin’ kiss.
In practice, the pieces don’t come together as excitedly as it sounds. That’s not a knock on AEW, which has at least a few worthwhile matches or segments per show, but it’s more the promise and potential of its stacked roster that keep me watching rather than the fact that it’s gripping television.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on May 15, 2022 7:51:23 GMT -5
For the first year or so, Dynamite was consistently an absolutely thrilling show
Even on an off day Dynamite still feels fresher than almost any other wrestling show I have seen that is slipping in quality
I can't remember a show that had a dead crowd absolutely throughout and didn't have at least some big peak even if it wasn't a hot show throughout
And when it is good, I still think it is amongst the freshest wrestling booking in the West. I don't know how much of its good stuff is ripped off from Japan but that's basically how wrestling works anyway
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Post by 1 Free Moon-Down with Burger on May 15, 2022 7:55:04 GMT -5
I am so vastly uninterested in anything they’re doing with Adam Cole
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Abdullah
Hank Scorpio
Thank you, Ishmeal Loves Bayley!
Posts: 6,420
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Post by Abdullah on May 15, 2022 8:07:14 GMT -5
I am so vastly uninterested in anything they’re doing with Adam Cole I think this gets to something as well. Adam Cole and his NXT friends have already had their major career arcs elsewhere, very recently. Now that they’re in AEW, they’re not doing anything that different? It feels like there are no stakes there and nothing to invest in. Some might say the same about a Keith Lee or an Andrade, so it’s a very subject opinion. I’d disagree, but at least those two don’t take up huge swaths of TV time.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on May 15, 2022 8:38:15 GMT -5
I am so vastly uninterested in anything they’re doing with Adam Cole I think this gets to something as well. Adam Cole and his NXT friends have already had their major career arcs elsewhere, very recently. Now that they’re in AEW, they’re not doing anything that different? It feels like there are no stakes there and nothing to invest in. Some might say the same about a Keith Lee or an Andrade, so it’s a very subject opinion. I’d disagree, but at least those two don’t take up huge swaths of TV time. In general Andrade's AEW run has pretty much entirely convinced me that it isn't WWE's fault that he didn't get over on the main roster. Though to be fair I think he and Keith Lee both, and Swerve and Ruby and a few others, all kind of have this feeling like they were signed to AEW with no particular plan in mind for what to actually do with them and because seemingly everything in this company is locked into place months in advance with a seeming complete unwillingness to adjust plans or expedite things, there's nothing for them to actually do and they're just kind of thrown in wherever they need warm bodies.
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dbrussel
Don Corleone
Former WOW employee
Posts: 1,802
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Post by dbrussel on May 15, 2022 8:40:03 GMT -5
I am so vastly uninterested in anything they’re doing with Adam Cole Yep. An example of what i'm saying 7 post above. I know people that only watch if their faves are on.
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Post by kingoftheindies on May 15, 2022 8:56:53 GMT -5
I think there are hits and misses. I think there are times they do stretch things a bit too much (though I do think the payoffs usually are worth it)
Things like Undisputed vs Elite is clearly being stretched due to Kenny being out out longer than expected. And the Hayter/Britt teases had to be stopped due to Wardlow getting insanely over. But there are things that needlessly just get stretched (OC's last two feuds, the Julia Hart stuff).
Now I do disagree that Page's title reign hasn't been booked well. Yes the story was him overcoming his insecurities but I feel the reign has been more about making him am ace than about angles and that's fine.
Now I will agree that the TNT title stuff with Sammy and Scorpio has been bad and a lot of that has to do with Tony misreading how thr crowd would react to Sammy and Tay together.
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Legion
Fry's dog Seymour
Amy Pond's #1 fan
Hail Hydra!
Posts: 22,863
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Post by Legion on May 15, 2022 9:59:20 GMT -5
Hangman's title reign has suffered simply because the story was him winning the belt. After that, there was nowhere to go. Hangman finished his hero's journey as he pinned Omega. It's done, the story is told. It's like the Matrix sequels: at the end of the first movie, Neo had already finished his hero's journey, so the arc was done, which is why the next two movies kinda scrambled trying to come up with a plot. In wrestling, you need to keep going all the time, you can't just roll the credits, which is one of those disadvantages that wrestling has. But not every character is meant to be a long-term champion. Dusty was never champion for long, he only won the NWA title three times, and his longest reign was just shy of three months or so. That was because the character the American Dream Dusty Rhodes would not have worked as champion. That's not what the character was about. Dusty's character was about chasing it - and once he stopped chasing, the story was done, so he had to lose it right back, otherwise, there wasn't gonna be a story to tell. There's no story to tell with Dusty as champion. Not for a long period anyway. Hangman's a fine talent, and I don't even think it's AEW being bad that the run has sucked; it's just that some characters don't work as champion, and I see Hangman being an example since his hero's journey has already been completed. It's the same in all fiction, and wrestling is in no way special or different from other forms of fiction. Just worse, often. I've been saying this for ages. AEW is great at booking a journey, but once someone has got to there, they dont know where to go next. This either leads to them really obviously just stuck in a holding pattern, like Hangman, or heading back down the card like Orange. Still, as long as the journeys they take us on are entertaining, I'm likely to still tune in, even if I know eventually it'll flatline.
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Post by 1 Free Moon-Down with Burger on May 15, 2022 9:59:20 GMT -5
I am so vastly uninterested in anything they’re doing with Adam Cole Yep. An example of what i'm saying 7 post above. I know people that only watch if their faves are on. It’s not about faves. It’s about booking that’s actually interesting. I don’t care for Cody Rhodes at all but his booking in WWE has got me watching and getting invested.
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Convoy
El Dandy
Rusev admits to being a sex addict to large applause.
Posts: 7,530
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Post by Convoy on May 15, 2022 10:02:46 GMT -5
I am so vastly uninterested in anything they’re doing with Adam Cole Yep. An example of what i'm saying 7 post above. I know people that only watch if their faves are on. Along those same lines, I watch AEW on a delay so I can just fast-forward past people whom I don’t care about. People come-and-go from that list, but there are also consistent talents who I haven’t watched in months. Interestingly enough, a lot of ex-WWE people get skipped right now including UE, Hardys, Lee/Swerve, Andrade & Jericho’s group (though I did watch this week’s segment the moment BCC came out since I like that group). Also haven’t watched a Darby match since he faced MJF at a PPV or a Jungle Boy match since the tag title victory. Don’t like any of these people right now. My partial issue with AEW is things feeling less like an alternative and more like a proving ground for talents that wanted to escape Vince. Except, and this might be cruel to say, but it can feel as though Vince was right – some people are just not great at making me care about them. All of this is purely subjective. There are also talents (FTR, Ass Boys, Jade) that have turned around for me and now are can’t-miss.
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Teemu
Tommy Wiseau
Posts: 91
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Post by Teemu on May 15, 2022 10:02:53 GMT -5
Hangman's title reign has suffered simply because the story was him winning the belt. After that, there was nowhere to go. Hangman finished his hero's journey as he pinned Omega. It's done, the story is told. It's like the Matrix sequels: at the end of the first movie, Neo had already finished his hero's journey, so the arc was done, which is why the next two movies kinda scrambled trying to come up with a plot. In wrestling, you need to keep going all the time, you can't just roll the credits, which is one of those disadvantages that wrestling has. But not every character is meant to be a long-term champion. Dusty was never champion for long, he only won the NWA title three times, and his longest reign was just shy of three months or so. That was because the character the American Dream Dusty Rhodes would not have worked as champion. That's not what the character was about. Dusty's character was about chasing it - and once he stopped chasing, the story was done, so he had to lose it right back, otherwise, there wasn't gonna be a story to tell. There's no story to tell with Dusty as champion. Not for a long period anyway. Hangman's a fine talent, and I don't even think it's AEW being bad that the run has sucked; it's just that some characters don't work as champion, and I see Hangman being an example since his hero's journey has already been completed. It's the same in all fiction, and wrestling is in no way special or different from other forms of fiction. Just worse, often. I've been saying this for ages. AEW is great at booking a journey, but once someone has got to there, they dont know where to go next. This either leads to them really obviously just stuck in a holding pattern, like Hangman, or heading back down the card like Orange. Still, as long as the journeys they take us on are entertaining, I'm likely to still tune in, even if I know eventually it'll flatline. To be fair, it's just hard in wrestling in general. Austin was great as champion after the journey in 1998 - but even he struggled in 1999, I would argue. But in 1998, he had the cards stacked up against him every single week. He's a rare case. And even he still started to kinda flounder in 1999.
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Kalmia
King Koopa
Happy to be here
Posts: 11,710
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Post by Kalmia on May 15, 2022 10:03:38 GMT -5
For me, it's just a case of some of the featured acts not being ones I'm that interested in. The TNT title hasn't been booked very well for several months and I've never been able to warm to Adam Cole. All of the House of Black stuff has been very stop-start, largely due to circumstances out of AEW's control such as Fenix's injury and PAC only being randomly available (he should really just move to the US, IMO)
But some other stuff has been excellent, I think. MJF's angles with Punk and now Wardlow, Hookhausen is perfect mid-card madness, Wheeler Yuta joining the BCC, Eddie Kingston being Eddie Kingston, everything with Jade Cargill, FTR's face turns, etc.
I think this is how things are going to be with AEW. They cycle their focus from one wrestler to the next (with some ever-presents) and some wrestlers/stories are going to hit better than others. For me, even bad AEW is generally a fun time and worth my three hours a week. I don't expect perfection from my pro-wrestling every single week, just something fun to watch.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on May 15, 2022 10:10:52 GMT -5
I think it's a little the booking and a little the roster. There are certainly people I like a lot who I generally don't like what they're doing with them - PAC, the Bucks, and Hangman come immediately to mind - while there are also a lot of people on the shows each week I just don't want to watch. Like hell yeah my opinion of AEW would be elevated without having the Varsity Blonds and Jade Cargill and Adam Cole and Men of the Year and Jericho & co. and the broken down shambling husks of the Hardys, but it wouldn't do anything to address how glacial everything is and how a lot of the time even the people I am a huge fan of aren't doing stuff I'm interested in.
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The Ichi
Patti Mayonnaise
AGGRESSIVE Executive Janitor of the Third Floor Manager's Bathroom
Posts: 37,304
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Post by The Ichi on May 15, 2022 11:00:38 GMT -5
It doesn't feel like we're two weeks away from DoN. Hangman/Punk has only just started to move and only MJF/Wardlow feels like a blood match. If AEW didn't have a really, really good track record of quality PPVs I dunno if I'd order it.
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r.
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Bye
Posts: 16,480
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Post by r. on May 15, 2022 11:14:16 GMT -5
I'm thoroughly still enjoying each weekly show. That is all.
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markymark
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Posts: 18,392
Member is Online
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Post by markymark on May 15, 2022 11:21:18 GMT -5
It doesn't feel like we're two weeks away from DoN. Hangman/Punk has only just started to move and only MJF/Wardlow feels like a blood match. If AEW didn't have a really, really good track record of quality PPVs I dunno if I'd order it.
Its still an upgrade over Cole/Hangman "buildup" for Revolution even if its a low bar.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on May 15, 2022 11:29:56 GMT -5
It doesn't feel like we're two weeks away from DoN. Hangman/Punk has only just started to move and only MJF/Wardlow feels like a blood match. If AEW didn't have a really, really good track record of quality PPVs I dunno if I'd order it. Its still an upgrade over Cole/Hangman "buildup" for Revolution even if its a low bar.
AEW pretty routinely just goes, "Whatever, it's for the title, we don't need a story." Think the worst example is probably when they had just continued to have Kenny feud with Moxley in the lead-up to Double or Nothing last year then last minute realized, "Uh, shit, right, we need someone else!" and so in the span of like two weeks they randomly threw PAC and OC at him.
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