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Post by A Platypus Rave on Feb 15, 2024 14:57:35 GMT -5
They do need to work on some of their presentation with the people coming in. I don't care one way or another but to me these big signings don't feel so big when guys have already had matches in the promotion or have already done a tour of the lesser promotions. That's kinda why I felt Tony's hyping up Will Osprey's announcement as much as he did fell flat because he's been competing in the company for like a year already.
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Post by Mozenrath on Feb 15, 2024 15:02:40 GMT -5
I will grant that they could, and should, put some video packages together more often for some of these guys. Like a Vikingo can get away without it because you'll see what makes him unique pretty damn fast, but a 45 second sizzle reel with "SO AND SO NEXT WEEK" would go a ways, along with the Excalibur hype job, obviously.
I do wonder how much of that might be an issue, though, just since whoever owns the NJPW, CMLL, etc, footage might be really pissy about it being used and demand a pay day out of it. Not unreasonable in and of itself, but these kinds of videos take time and effort to make, and you need to get everyone on the same page with enough advance notice to do it. Media holders are kind of infamously selfish about these kinds of things, though, and can wait until the last minute, or after, to bother rubber stamping something that is only going to help them. Never underestimate the control fetish such companies have, though, it outweighs even greed as a motivator.
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Post by Legion on Feb 15, 2024 16:42:37 GMT -5
Due to the way they present it, close it. The expectation is I, as a viewer of AEW, also watch NJPW and know whonall their guys are. I dont, and I dont have an interest or frankly the time to do so. As such, every year when we get the build to the show, I tune out. I cant get interested because I have to do homework to watch the show. If they changed the presentation and did some video packages or spent more time telling and showing me why I should care about the NJPW talent, then I'd be all for it being open. *NJPW can be subbed for CMLL or any other company they work with. You honestly kind of have it backwards. The point of these kinds of collaborations tends to be "I want more eyes on my guys, I will send them to AEW" and AEW both scouting people that way and just having fresh match ups. Like, by not knowing shit about NJPW, you're honestly one of the ideal targets. Which would be great if they did more to make me care. I watch wrestling more for the crazy story than justvthe wrestling. So having a banger of a match is all well and good, but I want and need a story around that match to make me care. Exhibition matches can only go so far when the people are unknowns (to me) but are meant to be big names. I fully appreciate the point from NJPW may be to get more eyes by working with a US platform, but point is simply that AEW doesnt do enough to 'help' NJPW by introducing those guys. It always seems to start from a place of expecting 'me' to know who the people are and their history. And as I don't, I struggle to connect, so the whole exercise fails. For me. I fully appreciate others love it and wouldnt want an intro etc.
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Feb 15, 2024 17:23:27 GMT -5
They do need to work on some of their presentation with the people coming in. I don't care one way or another but to me these big signings don't feel so big when guys have already had matches in the promotion or have already done a tour of the lesser promotions. That's kinda why I felt Tony's hyping up Will Osprey's announcement as much as he did fell flat because he's been competing in the company for like a year already. He had like two to three matches spattered about and was then off of AEW TV for months and not signed to any full capacity The fact they nabbed him full time was not something everyone really saw coming imo The crazy thing about this announcement is the other person everyone thought he signed was Mone and... turns out they needed to just wait a little longer lol
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Feb 15, 2024 17:26:05 GMT -5
I don't care about the CMLL guys who have no personality, Maybe watch the Heichicero Matches and then tell me he has no personality since you obviously didn't watch the Heichicero matches where he very clearly had an awesome personality and presentation of his in ring style and character. I love the Lucha Bros too, you can love both things and it's weird that it has to be a competition?
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Post by Bo Rida on Feb 15, 2024 17:30:38 GMT -5
I think it's more about knowing how a wrestler and their home promotion fits into a story that matters, often in a meta way. Two things I think would help.
1) Some kind of title with an international focus. Maybe people form other promotions could have to beat someone else on the roster to earn a future shot? So you can still have one off exhibition dream matches with anyone, there's just added context.
2) A regular report on aew wrestlers outside activities. There's some issues with footage usage and not wanting to show aew stars losing in high school gyms but there's ways around that. Have Kip Sabian adopt an international reporter gimmick and have his character use it to stir up trouble. He can focus on what he's interested in to kayfabe excuse skipping things or waiting weeks. If there's no footage he can use his words, animation, reconstructions with action figures. Whatever works. In the process he can help put over where each promotion fits.
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Post by KingPooper on Feb 15, 2024 19:53:05 GMT -5
I just want AEW to have a decent website with who’s in AEW who’s in ROH. Who’s from the forbidden door and if they haven’t even used in six months or no longer with company an alumni section. Maybe even an injured reserve.
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Feb 15, 2024 20:43:52 GMT -5
Having the “Forbidden Door” open and allowing AEW stars and matches on big shows and wrestling streaming services in Japan and Mexico helps AEW grow as a global brand.
Closing it now would be dumb.
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Post by Hypnosis on Feb 15, 2024 20:50:42 GMT -5
I just want AEW to have a decent website with who’s in AEW who’s in ROH. Who’s from the forbidden door and if they haven’t even used in six months or no longer with company an alumni section. Maybe even an injured reserve. Unrelated, but I wish AEW would let us use TV show pics from their site to post here like they used to. For some reason, they don't allow right-clicking on the pics anymore.
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Post by cosmo on Feb 15, 2024 21:26:51 GMT -5
I'm all for closing it. I don't watch anything outside of WWE or AEW, so I'd have never heard of most of the guys AEW brings in if it weren't for the Internet. I can imagine somebody who has absolutely no knowledge of anything beyond Raw, Smackdown, or Dynamite wondering who the hell guys like Will Ospreay or Minoru Suzuki are and why they should care.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Feb 15, 2024 21:44:25 GMT -5
I know we all approach our fandoms in different ways, but to me there's something closed-minded about the idea of "I don't know who he is and he's not from a show I watch so I won't care" in terms of closing you off from ever being able to see great wrestlers you otherwise wouldn't. One of the greatest strengths of AEW"s openness in my mind is that it gives people a chance to see things they wouldn't seek out themselves. Obviously it plays to the crowd when Suzuki shows up and people know who he is, but people who don't know and who have never and will never watch New Japan get to see him in action and that's cool. Hechicero was an unknown to most of AEW's audience up until he had a killer match with Danielson, and you could hear the crowd lighting up over it. It's put Vikingo in front of an American prime time cable audience and I can't fathom being a wrestling fan who looks at what Vikingo does and just going 'Yeah but I don't give a shit he's with some Mexican company instead of AEW'. I can't f***ing stand Ospreay, but I can't deny that giving fans Ospreay vs. Omega at Forbidden Door let a whole bunch of people who aren't tuning in to Wrestle Kingdom see a truly amazing match. Isn't there value in that? Even if not to you, then isn't it clear where AEW is providing that value as part of what it's selling to people who aren't closed-minded enough to write this off?
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Post by Mozenrath on Feb 15, 2024 22:22:12 GMT -5
Thinking about it while at work, it did occur to me that there is something missing from this all:
It's kind of weird that they have, so far, not really used the International title for this as much as they could. I am fine with OC, or whoever else, defending against Japanese, Mexican, European, etc, wrestlers, but I do think having one of them win it, however briefly, would do a good bit to make this feel more consequential.
It's a big exercise in trust, of course. You don't want CMLL or whoever else deciding all of a sudden that they don't want to return the favor, but you're employing trust all the time with these shows, regardless, of shooting, stiffing, etc. You just need expectations to be crystal clear.
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Post by Some Guy on Feb 16, 2024 4:48:22 GMT -5
They should let other talents go to other promotions fairly often too, so it's a good thing. Hell why not have FTR or someone win the tag titles in NJPW? Have you all seen who the state of their goddamn tag division? They did and killed the momentum the division had been gaining. It's a good thing they've recovered now by putting it on Chase Owens and the most washed up KENTA possible then. FTR really was holding them back.
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Post by Mozenrath on Feb 16, 2024 4:55:41 GMT -5
They did and killed the momentum the division had been gaining. It's a good thing they've recovered now by putting it on Chase Owens and the most washed up KENTA possible then. FTR really was holding them back. I think the only real issue with FTR winning them was just that they didn't get many defenses in, something that isn't on them entirely, as it's kind of a common issue for the NJPW tag belts. They can tend to be sparsely defended.
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Post by Fundertaker on Feb 16, 2024 5:06:28 GMT -5
They did and killed the momentum the division had been gaining. It's a good thing they've recovered now by putting it on Chase Owens and the most washed up KENTA possible then. FTR really was holding them back. You mean the guys who won't hold the belts for long like Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens did just before FTR won the damn things and still did more for them than FTR holding them and doing nothing for 4 months after winning them? Instead of, you know, keeping them on O'Kahn and Cobb who would be in Japan all the time to defend and could go to the US to do the same if needed during that period (aside from G1)?
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Feb 16, 2024 5:08:26 GMT -5
It's a good thing they've recovered now by putting it on Chase Owens and the most washed up KENTA possible then. FTR really was holding them back. You mean the guys who won't hold the belts for long like Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens did just before FTR won the damn things and still did more for them than FTR holding them and doing nothing for 4 months after winning them? Instead of, you know, keeping them on O'Kahn and Cobb who would be in Japan all the time to defend and could go to the US to do the same if needed during that period (aside from G1)? FTR's reign still didn't hurt the IWGP Tag Belts as a whole New Japan's complete lack of care for them in general lately, has hurt them more than anything else. FTR haven't been champs for like two years at this point, even if they did hurt the division in any way, New Japan hasn't seen fit to really build anyone else up since. I also agree Cobb and O'Kahn were a great team and I don't really know why they didn't just give them another run with them
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Post by Kalmia on Feb 16, 2024 5:47:51 GMT -5
I think the Forbidden Door depends a lot on what you want from your wrestling show. I'm happy to watch the occasional match where the only story is that an awesome wrestler from another promotion is here and they're going to get a banger match out of him. I don't need an emotional investment in a character and years of backstory to enjoy a 4* TV match.
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Post by HMARK Center on Feb 16, 2024 6:55:09 GMT -5
I think it also needs to be pointed out that, yes, they've done video packages numerous times with guys who've come in from other companies. They just had one for Ishii the other day, and Ishii's been on multiple AEW cards over the years already.
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Feb 16, 2024 7:21:36 GMT -5
I think it also needs to be pointed out that, yes, they've done video packages numerous times with guys who've come in from other companies. They just had one for Ishii the other day, and Ishii's been on multiple AEW cards over the years already. I don't get the lack of build for wrestlers, I think the only time they've recently not had a video package for new wrestlers was Esfinge and Star Jr and they showed up before they had a match anyway to be introduced to the crowd in a segment with the BCC They did an entire highlight segment for the first four CMLL stars coming in, I don't think there's been a lack of effort on AEW's end to tell everyone who these people are.
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Post by cosmo on Feb 16, 2024 8:16:12 GMT -5
I guess I just don't pay enough attention to Dynamite when they show these montages for wrestlers from other promotions.
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