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Post by rollinsphan on May 31, 2022 0:26:20 GMT
I'm happy for those who enjoy AEW but I'm burned out on it due to being full of the same old American style pro-wres booking that makes me roll my eyes. I really hope Tony doesn't book ROH the same way, it should be more no-nonsense workrate driven than what AEW is but I'm not holding my breath.
Hopefully they'll step it up for the Forbidden Door show next month because that's probably the last AEW show I'll be watching.
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Post by TheDenizen on Jun 6, 2022 20:57:59 GMT
I'm kind of at a cross roads (no pun intended) right now with AEW. "Old man shouts at clouds" rant incoming...
I've been a fan of the AEW PPVs since the beginning and more recently started watching the weekly shows as well. At first it was very much like the buzz of discovering TNA back during the weekly PPV era (2002/3?)....a bunch of wrestlers who I'd either never heard of, or heard of but never seen in action, plus a different production style from what I was used to with WWE. AEW was fresh and exciting. But recently the love affair seems to be souring slightly.
I don't think it's any secret that I gave up on WWE when the whole Benoit thing happened, and I haven't watched any of the weekly shows since....but I have been checking out the odd PPV event in the last couple of years. Mostly spurred on by the Mae Young Classics, I've really enjoyed the women's revolution (ugh) as it's been presented. I always hated the T&A gravy matches and bra/panties matches from the Attitude era and thought it was great to see really talented wrestlers getting their chance to shine. Sadly there doesn't seem to be much to get excited about on the men's side of things, in the main event or the mid card.
Anyways I was talking about AEW. While it's exciting to see guys from WWE turning up in AEW, it's become so commonplace that a lot of guys I considered "AEW guys" who I liked seem to be getting lost in the shuffle. I dunno if it's just Tony Khan's relative inexperience as a booker, or just a desire to spotlight WWE guys who he spent a ton of money to get, but either way I find it wearying. Every other week someone new arrives and pushes someone else down (or off) the card. Khan seems either unwilling or unable to do anything decent with any of the women's division except Britt Baker. Too many feuds seems to drag on forever with little or no development.
I watched MJF's nuclear promo after the last PPV, and I have to say, I agreed with a lot of the stuff he said. The promo itself was fire, expertly delivered by a master talker at the top of his game....but I'm in the Bryan Alvarez school of thought on it, which is to say... Where is the payoff? A promo is supposed to sell tickets to a wrestling match. Is MJF eventually going to wrestle Tony Khan with his freedom on the line? Anyways, the point is that there's a decent portion of the AEW audience who will agree with MJF and want to side with him (his promo got a massive pop and they were chanting his name during the commercial break)....which means that AEW itself will become the heel in the feud.
That's not good. I think Khan is playing a dangerous game by allowing MJF to say this stuff, because it runs the very real risk of turning fans off the product when MJF is so good at ripping on it, and pointing out its very real flaws. Maybe Khan was hoping to turn CM Punk heel and have him represent Khan's/AEW's interests in a feud with MJF but that's off the table now with Punk being injured.
Double or Nothing was a solid (if DEFINITELY too long) show. But there wasn't one match on that card that was better than the Triple Threat match for the Women's Title at HIAC between Becky Bianca and Asuka. Punk vs Page and Rosa vs Deeb were both super sloppy, and the Arena Fight with Jericho was just a train wreck (albeit a pretty entertaining one). The only thing that came close IMO was the excellent trios match with House of Black defeating Death Triangle.
I dunno if I have a point. I guess I'm realizing that the grass isn't necessarily greener just because it's different. AEW gets a lot right, but it's still a wrestling promotion, and it can't seem to avoid making the same dumb mistakes that other wrestling promotions always make.
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Post by BakFu on Jun 6, 2022 21:56:01 GMT
That's not good. I think Khan is playing a dangerous game by allowing MJF to say this stuff, because it runs the very real risk of turning fans off the product when MJF is so good at ripping on it, and pointing out its very real flaws. Maybe Khan was hoping to turn CM Punk heel and have him represent Khan's/AEW's interests in a feud with MJF but that's off the table now with Punk being injured. This is an interesting thought, seems to me for a company that wants to be different, if the go this route, it sounds a lot like an evil guy that headed an evil corporation that we saw feuding with stone cold a couple of decades ago… 🤔 MJFs promo was nuts, I love the fact no one seems to know whether it’s a work or a shoot, kinda like wrestling used to be. Regardless of the outcome, it sounded like he meant it, that in itself is refreshing to see in the business these days. |
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Post by TheDenizen on Jun 6, 2022 22:02:41 GMT
100% work IMO.
The no-show at the fan event might have been real, MJF's grievances are certainly real...but there's no way MJF appeared at the PPV without having come to some agreement behind the scenes with Khan, and definitely no way Khan gave MJF a hot mic on a live TV show without approving everything he was going to say first.
re: AEW itself becoming the "heel"...Vince never wanted to be an on-air heel, but it just happened organically after the Montreal Screwjob. I don't think Tony Khan is intentionally trying to do the same thing...but if enough of the fans side against him with MJF, it might just happen anyways.
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Post by BakFu on Jun 6, 2022 22:23:44 GMT
Yeah, I agree on the work, but it’s got people talking, and it didn’t sound like your run of the mill, current wwe “I’m reading cue cards for this cable access furniture store commercial I’m doing”, monotone, uninvested shit that constitutes a “wrestling promo” these days. It was almost a little too much, a where do you go with promos from here deal, but that’s a systemic issue business wide these days. But yeah, a nice change to see someone fired up, the guy knows how to HEEL, people should take notes!😁
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Post by TheDenizen on Jun 6, 2022 22:48:48 GMT
It's certainly an interesting time to be a fan, folks are definitely talking about it. I'm very curious to see how the MJF situation develops.
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Post by Dawnbr3ak3r on Jun 7, 2022 14:09:01 GMT
Pretty much the only thing I'm paying attention to that's AEW-adjacent are Konosuke Takeshita and whatever any other guests to the promotion get up to.
Still rocking with TJPW and Ganbare, two Cyberfight promotions. Kinda fell off DDT, but it's still in my peripheral. Not paying much mind to NOAH since they picked up Elgin.
Been wading the waters of freelance Japanese wrestlers. There's a *ton* of fantastic wrestlers not directly signed to (major) promotions there. Tomoka Inaba, who works for JTO (Taka Michinoku's promotion), has really impressed me lately. I've gotten invested in the Prominence group of deathmatch joshi - Suzu Suzuki, Risa Sera, Akane Fujita, Mocchi Natsumi, and Kurumi Hiiragi (currently out on injury). Miyako Matsumoto appears with them often.
Cyberfight has a bunch of big shows lined up for the summer season. The second annual CyberFight Festival is this weekend, on the 12th. TJPW has Summer Sun in July. Ganbare has another show in July and will feature a plethora of wrestlers from different backgrounds.
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Post by OrochiGeese on Jun 14, 2022 6:11:02 GMT
Konosuke Takeshita is awesome. I've only seen like 2 matches of his and he's blown me away each time.
My general thoughts on AEW:
I gave them a second chance last summer and have been watching them ever since. However, in my view, there has been a clear decline in quality after New Years. There are a number of reasons and some of them are not entirely their fault (injuries). I think they botched Adam Page's reign after the Danielson feud (which was great). I don't think the title should have been put on Punk yet. And the "triple-switch" WWE-style "entertainment" booking with Men of the Year and Sammy/Tay killed the Title dead after it was one of the most prestigious titles last year.
I was going to take a week off from watching it but decided to give Dynamite a chance. I'm glad I did.
This is AEW for me right now: Every show has a lot of stuff that makes my eyes glaze over but sometimes they just freaking nail it. This past Dynamite was an almost entire show of them nailing it. The Battle Royale was fun. PAC vs. Buddy was great. Mox vs. Kyle O'Reilly was excellent. I've become a huge fan of KOR since he debuted in AEW.
But given their recent issues, I'm more likely to just fast-forward through segments I know I'm not going to be into. They hooked me last year but lost me a little. Their shows aren't as consistently/reliably what I want to see. So I look for the segments I think I'll be into, give some of the new wrestlers a try, and then just curate what I want to see.
I have somewhat enjoyed the build to Forbidden Door. There have been a few too many "random NJPW guys run out and beat on AEW wrestlers" without any real context before or after the beatdown. I also hope they don't just keep some of the higher profile NJPW wrestlers from wrestling on any AEW shows. There are AEW fans who have never seen many of them before but would be more likely to buy the PPV if they saw them in action.
I haven't bought an AEW PPV yet but if they give us Danielson vs. Okada, they have my full attention.
Oh and as for MJF - I agree an end-game is needed. Maybe it was MJF/Punk. I mean, we did get Vince as Austin's main foil for years but Vince was willing to get in the ring and I don't see Tony Khan playing a dominant heel run. Nor do I think MJF would make a great face (right now for this feud) or anti-hero. So I don't know if they are just trying to work the smarks so much they are working themselves into an untenable story or if there is something else they are planning for that they haven't remotely previewed yet. Maybe Tony and MJF just came to an understanding that this story could be a headlines-grabbing way to save face for both sides and allow MJF to go to WWE sooner than later.
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Post by TheDenizen on Jun 14, 2022 20:13:02 GMT
Kyle O'Reilly is amazing. I never really watched any NXT stuff so I was aware of who he was but hadn't really seen much of his work. Now that I have, hoo boy, he reminds me of Benoit/Dynamite in all the best possible ways. His offense looks crisp, stiff and impactful, like he's legit trying to hurt his opponents. Just the way he moves in the ring screams "believable". The early knee strike against Darby Allin at the last PPV was a thing of absolute beauty. He's quickly become one of my new faves.
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Post by BakFu on Jun 14, 2022 20:46:34 GMT
O’Reilly (and Fish, but especially O’Reilly) has been one of the few reasons for me to pay attention to pro wrestling anymore, I’m glad he’s finally getting a top guy type push (at least not shuffled aside in mid card/curtain jerker purgatory like he has been.). I love his style, not too flashy, nice mix of submission and striking, but all around nice and stiff. Hopefully they keep pushing him to the moon.
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Post by OrochiGeese on Jun 16, 2022 11:14:11 GMT
Mox is one of my favorites and I figured he was going to beat Kyle O'Reilly last week. The match was awesome and the booking made sense given Mox's status and the dream match with Tanahashi. But I would have LOVED to see Kyle suddenly shoot up the card with an upset victory. Even if he lost to Tanahashi, it would have been a great push for Kyle. The guy is easily in my top 3-5 favorites on the roster along with Mox and Danielson. I also really like Bobby Fish. The two as a team are wonderful. Them and FTR are easily my favorite teams on the roster.
KOR somehow manages to have an incredibly believable, dynamic, and high impact offense while also having a great character. It's just that AEW has kind of muted his character (and Bobby's) in favor of having Adam Cole be the real voice of the group. I'm not into Cole. I see his raw talent but I don't like that he's wasting it by becoming HBK 2.0. HBK 1.0 was not my favorite but he was unique and excellent. No one becomes a legend by becoming a second coming of someone else. I wouldn't want someone pretending to be Bret Hart 2.0 as much as Bret is my favorite of all time. (to their credit, FTR are quite different than Bret despite being huge fans of his). So I see Adam Cole being the leader and mouthpiece for KOR and Fish and it just annoys me. It's also weird that the Undisputed Elite has two tag teams and one singles wrestler, LOL. KOR has a ton of charisma and fighting spirit. I think he can easily be a top face one day if Cole and UE turn their backs on him and kick him out. Bobby Fish is full of ole fashioned gumption and can kick people's faces in too. Dude looks like someone you don't want to cross.
I love the recent submission finishes we've seen from KOR too like the cross arm/leg breaker and the triangle choke submission counter to a diving move from a few years back.
Oh another guy to watch is Swerve Strickland. Every match I see him in I'm more impressed. His movement around the ring is like a combination of Steven Regal and capoeira. Weirdest combination I ever would have imagined but it totally works. His offense is legit and his character is entertaining.
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Post by kokushishin on Jun 20, 2022 14:15:46 GMT
I just don't find it compelling. I mean, it doesn't even seem like there's a thought of FTR vs. reDRagon or even Kings of the Black Throne, they are all in singles or faction derpery.
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Post by El Marsh on Jun 20, 2022 19:58:40 GMT
I stumbled across this match today
It's the pro wrestling debut of former sumo wrestler Kototenzan who we all know better by his wrestling names Earthquake, Avalanche, the Shark and Golga. The video title gives it away but yeah, that's a relatively svelte 23 year-old John Tenta teaming with all-time legend Giant Baba against Goro Tsurumi and Rusher Kimura, one of the aces of the 1970s. It's interesting for a few reasons. Again, this is Tenta about a year and half and at LEAST 100 lbs before he terrorized Hogan and the WWF as Earthquake. He always moved incredible well for his size but here, seeing a man his size do basic wrestling school stuff is still jarring because you don't generally associate arm drags and wrist control with a guy who's a legit 6'7" and 300lbs (give or take a dozen). It's also interesting seeing an older Baba out there, already over 20 years into his career. He and Kimura were both super vets who'd held numerous top titles and Tsurumi was a veteran hand with over a decade of experience so the "point" of the match wasn't to focus on them and their legacy and more to get the rookie Tenta some work in front of a live audience. While certainly no stranger to that being a former sumo and two-sport NCAA athlete at LSU, you could clearly see some nervousness on display before the walkout so it was a pretty big first step on Tenta's path to a very colorful (yet unfortunately brief) career as a pro wrestler.
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jbravos
Steel Johnson
Old School Guru
Posts: 193
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Post by jbravos on Sept 8, 2022 15:27:21 GMT
Japanese wrestling icon Keiji Muto is planning to wrap up his four-decade career with a retirement tour that ends in February. Muto, who will turn 60 in December, made his wrestling debut in October 1984 and has divided his career between Japan and the U.S., often using the persona of The Great Muta in his bouts. In the course of his career, he won 32 championships, including 13 as a tag team wrestler; he is one of only four wrestlers to win Japan's top three wrestling crowns — AJPW's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and NOAH's GHC Read More: www.wrestlinginc.com/998507/keiji-muto-to-retire-in-2023-at-age-60/?utm_campaign=clip |
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Post by bulkamania on Sept 18, 2022 5:14:48 GMT
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