AEW's use of rappers/Hip Hop figures appreciation

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

Despite most of the people here not knowing who TF Trina is, I must say AEW has done a great job incorporating Hip Hop Artists in ways that actually worked

*Action Bronson doing Hook's theme and teaming up with him in a match that actually was good for a celebrity match

*West side Gunn coming out with Daniel Garcia in Buffalo NY

*Lil Scrappy actually doing a good job moderating the rap battle between The Acclaimed and Ass Boys

*Honorable mention to Shaq having a way better match with Cody/Jade/Velvet than he had any busines being involved in

I'm leaving out a bunch of appearances, but they've done a good job tapping into old school-current hip hop culture

[Facetious]

Swerve has been a big influence it seems. He had a TMZ shoutout from Flocka and DJ Whoo Kid for a match.

[bearned]

Whenever anyone mentions the Shaq match it just makes me sad that they had to do that match in an empty arena. That would have taken the roof off a stadium with a full crowd.

[Fade]

Pretty much a smart call in every respect.

[Derk!]

For fans of hip-hop, I think it's pretty cool and any extra eyes it can bring to the product, can only be a good thing.

But for non-fans, I'd imagine it's like when WWE brings out American sports guys and the international viewers(and non-sports fans like me) are pulling a New Day and going "WHO WHO WHO?"

At the very least, I'm glad their involvement is minimal and doesn't take away from the show.

[The Legendary Ring Troll {BLM}]

Sept 25, 2022 18:52:34 GMT -5 Derk! said:

For fans of hip-hop, I think it's pretty cool and any extra eyes it can bring to the product, can only be a good thing.

But for non-fans, I'd imagine it's like when WWE brings out American sports guys and the international viewers(and non-sports fans like me) are pulling a New Day and going "WHO WHO WHO?"

At the very least, I'm glad their involvement is minimal and doesn't take away from the show.

This right here. I'm a huge hip-hip fan, but even I was like, "Trina? I guess..." I was expecting a wrestler, Mercedes or Mia as mentioned earlier. But the involvement was minimal and didn't detract, so it works for me.

[Cyno]

Apparently Swerve is doing a ton of stuff in terms of reaching out in an official capacity to hip-hop artists. He's a big reason why AEW got involved with Nitro Circus and Rolling Loud, too.

His whole thing is that wrestling is still niche, but doing crossovers with a lot of different mediums, you have a greater chance of the audience sticking around and growing.

[chazraps]

I f***ing love it. Everyone needs more Trina in their lives.

[Mozenrath]

Sept 25, 2022 19:27:48 GMT -5 Cyno said:

Apparently Swerve is doing a ton of stuff in terms of reaching out in an official capacity to hip-hop artists. He's a big reason why AEW got involved with Nitro Circus and Rolling Loud, too.

His whole thing is that wrestling is still niche, but doing crossovers with a lot of different mediums, you have a greater chance of the audience sticking around and growing.

Swerve honestly comes off like a pretty savvy dude. Been a fan since his days as Killshot, but he's only gotten better and better, and some of it does come across as him having a good mind for presentation.

[Fade]

Sept 25, 2022 19:39:11 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Sept 25, 2022 19:27:48 GMT -5 Cyno said:

Apparently Swerve is doing a ton of stuff in terms of reaching out in an official capacity to hip-hop artists. He's a big reason why AEW got involved with Nitro Circus and Rolling Loud, too.

His whole thing is that wrestling is still niche, but doing crossovers with a lot of different mediums, you have a greater chance of the audience sticking around and growing.

Swerve honestly comes off like a pretty savvy dude. Been a fan since his days as Killshot, but he's only gotten better and better, and some of it does come across as him having a good mind for presentation.

He absolutely does. Highly suggest his episode on Renee’s podcast. He’s got a very driven, creative and open mind.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Like I said in the live thread this week, the key to solving the "Who is this?" problem is to lean into how much of AEW's audience is dorky white guys and have Mark Morrison show up and only call him "the guy who did Return of the Mack". That'll get everybody on board.

[Deleted]

Sept 25, 2022 19:46:36 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

Like I said in the live thread this week, the key to solving the "Who is this?" problem is to lean into how much of AEW's audience is dorky white guys and have Mark Morrison show up and only call him "the guy who did Return of the Mack". That'll get everybody on board.

Gotta get Montell Jordan too!

[Cyno]

Say what you will about both Trina's appearance and Jim Ross's commentary lately, that "Aww Trina!" when she turned on Diamante was gold.

[Cyno]

Sept 25, 2022 19:45:19 GMT -5 Fade said:

Sept 25, 2022 19:39:11 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Swerve honestly comes off like a pretty savvy dude. Been a fan since his days as Killshot, but he's only gotten better and better, and some of it does come across as him having a good mind for presentation.

He absolutely does. Highly suggest his episode on Renee’s podcast. He’s got a very driven, creative and open mind.

I could see him being a really good executive one day, whether it's as an active talent or after he retires.

[Texas Tornado]

Sept 25, 2022 19:19:37 GMT -5 The Legendary Ring Troll {BLM} said:

Sept 25, 2022 18:52:34 GMT -5 Derk! said:

For fans of hip-hop, I think it's pretty cool and any extra eyes it can bring to the product, can only be a good thing.

But for non-fans, I'd imagine it's like when WWE brings out American sports guys and the international viewers(and non-sports fans like me) are pulling a New Day and going "WHO WHO WHO?"

At the very least, I'm glad their involvement is minimal and doesn't take away from the show.

This right here. I'm a huge hip-hip fan, but even I was like, "Trina? I guess..." I was expecting a wrestler, Mercedes or Mia as mentioned earlier. But the involvement was minimal and didn't detract, so it works for me.

I honestly feel like they couldn't have spelled out it was Trina any more than they did. lol

[Bang Bang Bart]

Sept 25, 2022 18:01:17 GMT -5 Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite said:

Despite most of the people here not knowing who TF Trina is, I must say AEW has done a great job incorporating Hip Hop Artists in ways that actually worked

*Action Bronson doing Hook's theme and teaming up with him in a match that actually was good for a celebrity match

*West side Gunn coming out with Daniel Garcia in Buffalo NY

*Lil Scrappy actually doing a good job moderating the rap battle between The Acclaimed and Ass Boys

*Honorable mention to Shaq having a way better match with Cody/Jade/Velvet than he had any busines being involved in

I'm leaving out a bunch of appearances, but they've done a good job tapping into old school-current hip hop culture

Lest we forget AEW commissioning an entire hip hop album for Black History Month with artists contributing songs about AEW’s Black stars.

[lavelleuk22]

Ha I felt the opposite, I used to be a huge rap fan, but every "rap" on AEW has been awful. Maybe it's the environment, but you shouldn't hire guys to rap live if they're bad at it. Maybe their heavily produced albums are better, but man seeing guys out of breath after 1 line or skipping words to try and breath is just cringy

Or maybe I'm just old

Seeing guys online not know Fabolous and seeing others describe him as "a guy who was hot 20 years ago" maybe proves I'm just out of touch lol

But in all honesty I've never been a fan of crossovers, ok some will like it but many others will dislike or just not understand it, I could be wrong but I doubt people watch AEW in the hopes of catching 20 seconds of a rapper walking

[Bo Rida]

When they finally come to Britain I hope they bring in Ms Dynamite.

[The Ichi]

The more time goes on, the more it's looking like HHH not seeing anything in Swerve will become his biggest faux pas.

[thegatewaydrug]

Sept 26, 2022 9:32:09 GMT -5 lavelleuk22 said:

Ha I felt the opposite, I used to be a huge rap fan, but every "rap" on AEW has been awful. Maybe it's the environment, but you shouldn't hire guys to rap live if they're bad at it. Maybe their heavily produced albums are better, but man seeing guys out of breath after 1 line or skipping words to try and breath is just cringy

Or maybe I'm just old

Seeing guys online not know Fabolous and seeing others describe him as "a guy who was hot 20 years ago" maybe proves I'm just out of touch lol

But in all honesty I've never been a fan of crossovers, ok some will like it but many others will dislike or just not understand it, I could be wrong but I doubt people watch AEW in the hopes of catching 20 seconds of a rapper walking

I assume many of these acts are simply out of their element or out of their time... as mentioned. Can be laterally applied to any genre. Exhibit A was Motorhead's singer at Mania 17! (The fun-with-Ahmed style deciphering of his 'lyrics' is always hilarious to me: "I am the Game and I want steak!")

Loudly rocking a wrestling crowd is surely much different than a night club atmosphere with the restraints of cable TV time and content. The Griselda guy who rapped Garcia to the ring in Buffalo is a prime example of flopping eventhough he's in his 'prime'. Max Caster he was not.

But Trina is a name that hasn't meant anything to me since 2007. I guess she's on some VH1 housewives show nowadays though.

That said, many all time greats are simply mediocre live. Nas and Rakim are prime examples of never having blow-you-away charisma or energy in a live concert setting. While many lesser acclaimed rappers with much less artistic merit are top-notch on-stage. Circling back to wrestling, compare this to why Huck Hogan was massively over and Terry Taylor was not.