AEW Discussion

[famicommander]

At least he's not Rosario Dawson.

Nothing against the lady but the last thing I want to see on a wrestling show is her in a fight.

[NewROHFan2020]

At least he's not Rosario Dawson.

Nothing against the lady but the last thing I want to see on a wrestling show is her in a fight.

Her too. I’m all for celebrities bringing some attention to a wrestling show, but if she’s not advertised, who at home is going to care? I can’t even remember the last thing she was in, though the announcers reminded us she’s on that TBS game show.

[famicommander]

She was in The Mandalorian last year, she's getting her own Star Wars show (Ahsoka) next year, she's been voicing Wonder Woman (in Space Jam 2 as well as animated Wonder Woman and Justice League films), and she has Clerks III filming now. She's still a relevant star. I just don't want celebrities in my wrestling.

Just another example of how AEW isn't substantially different from WWE.

[kovs27]

I heard Cody came back this week. Glad I sold my tickets.

[NewROHFan2020]

I heard Cody came back this week. Glad I sold my tickets.

He’s the EVP of the company, so you dislike him enough to sell tickets when he’s performing, but not enough to not initially buy tickets? How does that work?

[kovs27]

I heard Cody came back this week. Glad I sold my tickets.

He’s the EVP of the company, so you dislike him enough to sell tickets when he’s performing, but not enough to not initially buy tickets? How does that work?

I bought the tickets pre-pandemic when I was still a bit more interested in AEW. Also they advertised Blood and Guts (War Games) for that event. I know Cody was most likely going to be in that match but I could overlook it for the gimmick.

I can't stand Cody at all. I find him subpar at every aspect of the business. His title defense against Suzuki was the final nail in the coffin for me. An absolute abomination.

[famicommander]

Another god damn war games?

This promotion hot shots everything. They're going to run out of "special episodes" and "special matches" very soon at this rate.

[Montana]

I'm not a big Cody fan by any means; and i can understand why anyone may not like him...

But I look at it more like this... Cody came into ROH/NJPW and he wrestled very differently. He was able to slightly improve and change up his wrestling, to keep up. Is he great, no. But what he lacks in the ring; he makes up in other areas like his promos. Not to mention, he's probably booked himself better than any other wrestler/booker in history. He was able to book himself; as a top notch upper card wrestler; yet was kind of the gateway to the main event scene. He's put over MJF, Brody King, Malakai Black, Darby ALlin. Basically all the top young AEW talent has worked with Cody. So yeah; he's not the best wrestler, but i think he's done a lot to help the business, and the wrestlers.

Plus, i fully believe; no Cody Rhodes, no AEW. (Same could be said for TK, and to a lesser extent Omega & the Bucks) He navigated his way to the top of the wrestling world; basically on his own. So , i'm not a huge Cody fan, but i respect what he's done for himself and AEW. Everything except the neck tattoo.

[DougN]

Cody Rhodes is a polarizing wrestler. There's no arguing it.

What's interesting is that Cody Rhodes outside of the wrestling ring and outside of promos is one of the most entertaining personalities in wrestling. Him on BTE was gold, him on Sammy's Vlog is gold, him in other stuff is gold. He's just funny and sincere and entertaining.

But his promo work just goes to weird places sometimes. I do enjoy his matches and thinks he overcomes not being technically blessed more often than not. But the promos and the theatrics sometimes get too much for Cody. His promo vs Ogogo was one of the worst of the year in my mind.

[Shanahan]

Almost 5 hours and crowd was still insane. I love NY. Great show. I thought Rampage overall was better show tonight but Bryan/Omega was fucking great. Hope it came off as that on TV. I'll watch it in hotel tomorrow before my flight.

[DougN]

That's so wild. I'm seeing a ton of people saying the same thing about Rampage vs Dynamite which is crazy considering Rampage was taped AFTER Dynamite so you would think the crowd would be burnt out. Can't wait for Friday.

Bryan/Omega was five stars. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It was a classic match in the vein of his ROH title run, but the difference was that instead of building the crowd in a 30 minute match, the crowd was electric through the whole thing.

[Shanahan]

That's so wild. I'm seeing a ton of people saying the same thing about Rampage vs Dynamite which is crazy considering Rampage was taped AFTER Dynamite so you would think the crowd would be burnt out. Can't wait for Friday.

Bryan/Omega was five stars. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It was a classic match in the vein of his ROH title run, but the difference was that instead of building the crowd in a 30 minute match, the crowd was electric through the whole thing.

Rampage didn't have 5 star match but everything was really good and it moved fast. Dynamite had great 5 star match and then 3 really underwhelming matches and a good tag match with Sting being unbelievable so we didn't burn ourselves out during dynamite.

[DougN]

Was Britt-Ruby underwhelming or just rushed? I enjoyed it.

MJF-Pillman was definitely underwhelming. Pillman is still very green.

Cody-Malaki was fine for what it was. Cody either needs to turn heel or drastically revamp his wrestling character.

[Wavelet Transform]

Almost 5 hours and crowd was still insane. I love NY. Great show. I thought Rampage overall was better show tonight but Bryan/Omega was fucking great. Hope it came off as that on TV. I'll watch it in hotel tomorrow before my flight.

Thought Dynamite was the much superior show. Dragon/Omega, shockingly great Sting tag, great main event, and I thought Pillman/MJF was exactly what it should have been. The tag matches on Rampage were all a lot of fun but inconsequential and Punk's match was just there. I will say it was nice to see the hometown guy get the big win at the end of the show after years of losses/beatdowns for hometowners on wwe.

So, is the Homicide thing actually a one-off or is he gone? That tag title switch seemed out of nowhere....

[Shanahan]

Was Britt-Ruby underwhelming or just rushed? I enjoyed it.

MJF-Pillman was definitely underwhelming. Pillman is still very green.

Cody-Malaki was fine for what it was. Cody either needs to turn heel or drastically revamp his wrestling character.

Britt/Ruby seemed really slow live. Came off better on TV but not as good as i thought it would be. MJF/Pillman was a waste. Pillman needs to stay in tag scene and MJF is not good enough to carry guys worse than him. Cody match was weird because everyone around me was instantly against him when Brandi came out and then flipped off Malaki. Then we had a good laugh when Arn fell trying to climb around the ring post.

[Shanahan]

Almost 5 hours and crowd was still insane. I love NY. Great show. I thought Rampage overall was better show tonight but Bryan/Omega was fucking great. Hope it came off as that on TV. I'll watch it in hotel tomorrow before my flight.

Thought Dynamite was the much superior show. Dragon/Omega, shockingly great Sting tag, great main event, and I thought Pillman/MJF was exactly what it should have been. The tag matches on Rampage were all a lot of fun but inconsequential and Punk's match was just there. I will say it was nice to see the hometown guy get the big win at the end of the show after years of losses/beatdowns for hometowners on wwe.

So, is the Homicide thing actually a one-off or is he gone? That tag title switch seemed out of nowhere....

The tag title change was taped in mid july so that had nothing to do with it.

[DougN]

MJF is not bad, but I agree he can't carry anyone. Pillman was really exposed in that match. They could have at least done more smoke and mirrors to make him look good.

[Shanahan]

MJF is not bad, but I agree he can't carry anyone. Pillman was really exposed in that match. They could have at least done more smoke and mirrors to make him look good.

MJF doesn't wrestle enough to get better. So he will stay a guy with awesome character and good matches when he works with really good wrestlers. He's only had 38 matches since start of 2020 and a few were battle royal's & gimmicked AEW matches. He should be wrestling 100+ times a year.

[DougN]

I disagree on the amount and him wrestling more on the indies will dilute his appeal. Wrestling 100+ matches a year is not really sane anymore. I mean, NJPW guys in 2019 barely worked more than 100 matches a year and over half of those matches are multi man tags. If you want to make the argument that indies should be running more six and eight man tags with marquee names, I'm not opposed to that, but I don't think it's sustainable budget wise.

Wrestling's changed a lot in the last 5 years and one of the big things is the need to not have to wrestle so freaking much all the time. Somewhere between 40 and 60 matches a year sounds good to me, which is right about what wrestlers like Dante Martin and Lee Johnson are on pace for.

[Shanahan]

I disagree on the amount and him wrestling more on the indies will dilute his appeal. Wrestling 100+ matches a year is not really sane anymore. I mean, NJPW guys in 2019 barely worked more than 100 matches a year and over half of those matches are multi man tags. If you want to make the argument that indies should be running more six and eight man tags with marquee names, I'm not opposed to that, but I don't think it's sustainable budget wise.

Wrestling's changed a lot in the last 5 years and one of the big things is the need to not have to wrestle so freaking much all the time. Somewhere between 40 and 60 matches a year sounds good to me, which is right about what wrestlers like Dante Martin and Lee Johnson are on pace for.

I disagree. Martin wrestled 79 matches in 2019. I understand the Pandemic screwed up a lot but starting in 2022 he needs to work over 80+ for next few years. If not we will continue to hear "hes about ready to breakout" for next 5 years only for him to just continue to be a tag guy who does flashy flips but can't work a match unless a top guy carries him. Nothing replaces in-ring experience. You could practice all day, doesn't replace actual live matches. When your job is wrestling on live TV..you should master it. Guys like the elite or other top guys don't have to work 80+ days but they are at this place because they did work a ton for YEARS. If bucks were 25 years old right now and signed with AEW and worked 25-35 dates a year they would never turn into the young bucks of today.