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All Elite Wrestling announced; bankrolled by Tony Khan, son of Jacksonville Jaguars and Fullham FC owner Shahid Khan
- Thread starter Serene
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The joke is they chose nothing, he chose double. Double...or nothing
Can I say how great it is that we're over two weeks away from Fyter Fest and basically know the card and my hype keeps increasing as we get closer? Feels good, man. I wonder how long the AEW freshness factor will go given that I don't know a lot of the wrestlers or haven't seen a lot of the matchups before.
Just a hint of Kenny possibly appearing during Giant Bomb's E3 coverage either tonight or over the next couple of nights.
I love Jan and I love Kenny Omega. That's what heaven looks like.
Thanks. I don't know the Bomb peeps other than Gertsmann I guess.
It's a great thumbnail too. Umino is selling his beating literally like death itself.
All the Moxley stuff is positive whether AEW or NJPW gets the shine. Fuck WWE and bring on the mass exodus.
A lot of good will for AEW right now. For the sake of objectivity though, what advantages and disadvantages are the WWE saddled with right now? Athletic-wise, they've probably got the most talented roster it's ever had. It certainly has a more talented pool of performers today than what they had in 1995 when Nitro began. And yet, despite it all, Vince adapted his business and went on to prevail in the Monday Night Wars. Do you see him softening his stance on delivering a PG product? Given that this is a 73 year old man who has an affinity for flatulent humor, I have a hard time believing that he wouldn't be above going back to edgy adult oriented programming if he needed to. Many people, though, are convinced that PG is here to stay.
But I think even more contentious than the PG edict, I feel that the scripted promos are an even bigger liability to their performers. I could probably take the PG if it meant no more scripted promos. Is HHH and Stephanie aware that their scripted promo format is going nowhere, or are they too insulated to even care right now?
Advantages:
- Have the most talented roster they've ever had top to bottom
- Tons and tons of guaranteed money from TV deals and money in the bank
- WWE Network is ahead of the game and has given them stability in their PPV business where it would have been tanking otherwise.
- Global international TV exposure/marketing machine/social media followings
- Global brand/name brand where marks from overseas will fly in and sell out Wrestlemania instantly.
- Smackdown deal on Fox will get good marketing push from Fox on NFL games, etc.
- Tons of experienced producers/agents and trainers both on the main roster and at the performance center
- WWE front office has a lot of top notch people
- Performance Center idea is good in theory and very well-funded
- Production team is fantastic at promo packages and making the show look major league.
- Vince is a 73-year old man who's losing it and changes things at the last second with no regard to continuity or telling a story
- Way too many people involved in creative
- Scripted promos and bad characters hurt talent and make everything feel inauthentic.
- Not a lot of big "superstars" due to booking and the pipeline being full of indie wrestlers who may not have "it" to be a transcendent star.
- Most of the roster already buried by bad booking and it's a big uphill climb to salvage them
- Talent constantly forced to be a square peg going in a round hole and not booked to strengths. Everyone must cut scripted English promos in the middle of the ring to be a star.
- NXT/Performance Center does a poor job training homegrown talent for the main roster compared to the budget/# of people signed. Wrestlers need to get out and work shows regularly but those spots are taken by indie all-stars. Most of their successes have been getting indie talent comfortable in WWE system before they get called up.
- Overexposed product, especially with 3 hour Raws.
- Overproduced announcers who sound like corporate shills.
- Kevin Dunn's production quirks are annoying for long-term fans who notice them.
As someone once said:
"....Vince McMahon is going to make money despite himself. He's a millionaire who should be a billionaire. You know why he's not a billionaire? Because he surrounds himself with glad-handed, nonsensical, douchebag (censored) yes men, like John Laurinaitis, who's going to tell him everything he wants to hear, and I'd like to think that maybe this company will be better after Vince McMahon is dead. But the fact is, it's going to be taken over by his idiotic daughter and his doofus son-in-law and the rest of his stupid family...."
"....Vince McMahon is going to make money despite himself. He's a millionaire who should be a billionaire. You know why he's not a billionaire? Because he surrounds himself with glad-handed, nonsensical, douchebag (censored) yes men, like John Laurinaitis, who's going to tell him everything he wants to hear, and I'd like to think that maybe this company will be better after Vince McMahon is dead. But the fact is, it's going to be taken over by his idiotic daughter and his doofus son-in-law and the rest of his stupid family...."
Now that I think about it, how many homegrown talent coming out of the performance center have really been successful in the main roster? Charlotte Flair and?
Seth had an indie career before going to the Performance Center.
Roman and Charlotte are basically the only main roster successes from the PC
He was in one of the strongest stables in ROH with Age of The Fall.
Seth "Tyler Black" Rollins? Former ROH champion?
Also, doesn't Roman pre-date the performance center? He started in FCW, didn't he?
Great breakdown. It's like Stephanie's trying so hard to make the brand seem so clean, scripted, corporatized and advertiser friendly but underneath it all they're still the exact same hella-carny organization and family from the attitude era and way before that. Kinda exactly like Trump in every way. Right down to the father who probably wants to fuck his own daughter. 🤦♂️
Maybe they're fooling morons, I guess? 🤔
Yeah, Roman started in FCW and was really only around for the first few months of NXT before the Shield got called up. Not sure the performance center was even open yet.
It's pretty striking when you compare it to OVW having Lesnar, Cena, Orton, Batista all at once and all those guys winning world titles within a few years after starting in OVW (a couple years in the case of Lesnar). Cena and Orton had a little experience before OVW.
Alexa Bliss is way over with fans despite her inring ability not being top notch. Braun Strowman was pretty over too and I'd really blame WWE Creative for ruining him more than Braun Strowman himself.
Also the PC is what, 5 years old? Feel like we need a few more years before determining it a failure.
The PC also produced Chad Gable.
The issue is mis-management across the board more than anything
Stephanie is trying to make it seem like a CBS sitcom. It's the most sterile it's ever been.
Yep, that's exactly how it seems. So tightly controlled, from the announcers to the talent, to the matches themselves. It's all one giant formula that generates this boring and stale product. I assume, like CBS sitcoms, it appeals to a certain type of similar person.
But they got that Saudi and TV money so they can afford to just coast right now even if the audience dwindles.
Janela promo in front of a casket
Yuka Sakazaki vs Riho vs Nyla Rose
Shawn Spears promo. He's signed
Darby Allin promo
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Great promos from Janela and Darby
But they've really got to use spell check when making these videos
Also new VP of business operations, Nik Sobic, who came over from the Jaguars. Played football at Harvard/cup of coffee in the NFL.
Why would they need a better tan to be more successful than the Jaguars?
Ask the Stinger brother. He didn't tan for Starrcade 97, he wasn't ready to go over.
I misspelled "than" you butthead
These are the kind of promos that gets me interested on a wrestler. All 3 promos were amazing, especially Darby's. Now I really want to look him up online and see what he's like on the ring.
The promos were great and just shows how good pre recorded scripted promos can be when done right.
He's if you took Spike Dudley but made him way more talented. He's going to be booked as the guy who gets tossed around because of his size and what he's willing to do, but he's actually quite good in the ring
That feature of him on The Wrestlers from Viceland is a good introduction. It's available on their website, in the US at least.
I found it. Will take a look at it tonight. Thanks!
Say no more! I used to love Spike back in the day (I still remember when Brock totally destroyed him on his dayview with multiple nasty suplexes).
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