Wrestling

[ediger]

24 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I thought AEW was really good except the Swole match.  It was fine. But I think they book too long matches with people who haven’t had a chance to connect yet.  Should have been a glorified squash. 

Agreed, Build people up to the 15-20 minute matches. Overall, another good show with a number of production issues. They need a new sound person. Badly. My other main criticism is the entrance music. They tend to have the second entrance song start immediately after the first. Give it a few seconds and turn the lights down. That reset builds anticipation in the crowd. Plus the entrance songs themselves need to start with a super memorable riff or a big bang or something. They need to be immediately identifiable. Jim Johnston's best strength was each song started off BIG. AEW needs a bit of that in their entrance music. 

[The Unknown Poster]

2 hours ago, ediger said:

Agreed, Build people up to the 15-20 minute matches. Overall, another good show with a number of production issues. They need a new sound person. Badly. My other main criticism is the entrance music. They tend to have the second entrance song start immediately after the first. Give it a few seconds and turn the lights down. That reset builds anticipation in the crowd. Plus the entrance songs themselves need to start with a super memorable riff or a big bang or something. They need to be immediately identifiable. Jim Johnston's best strength was each song started off BIG. AEW needs a bit of that in their entrance music. 

The musical cue thing is an old wcw thing too.   I personally agree with you but I suspect it’s a homage to Wcw. 

I read that they chose to have the music less prevalent on the sound mix, I think to make it sound more like you’re an arena spectator at home   But I agree they need to get the audio issues fixed  no excuse for that when you can hire pros    Video isn’t bad and that’s harder than music since the director has to control live switching for matches where he doesn’t know what’s going to happen  

I’ll give them time on the actual music.  Pretty hard to have great entrance tunes for everyone right off the bat.  Unless they wanted to spend big and license music.  Although Jim Johnston is available....

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I’ll give them time on the actual music.  Pretty hard to have great entrance tunes for everyone right off the bat.  Unless they wanted to spend big and license music.  Although Jim Johnston is available....

Where's Jimmy Hart... they can get him to do what he did in WCW by ripping off popular music and only changing a few notes lol

[The Unknown Poster]

13 hours ago, Brandon said:

Where's Jimmy Hart... they can get him to do what he did in WCW by ripping off popular music and only changing a few notes lol

CFO$ are also available.  They parted from WWE earlier this year (or last year).  They replaced Jim Johnston and did a lot of the newer WWE music (most of the cool NXT themes were theirs).  If I was AEW, I'd look at them, depending on why they left WWE.  But many of the themes that guys seemed to get themselves (ie. pre-dated AEW) are good.  Cody, Bucks, SCU.  Mox is good.  I like Kenny's (some people dont but I think because his old one was so great).  

But I agree, they almost need a big punchy opening to some of the themes.

[Jpan85]

I like the music. Its different there is some real good entrances. My favourite might be Hangman Page, Mox is good, like the Best Friends, of course Judas is probably the best.

[Jpan85]

My only complaint is TSN is bleeping out minor swear words and holding the mute button way to long.

[Goalie]

My only real issue with AEW is.. Its kind of the same show every week.. Big spots not much selling.. I also think their audio is a problem.. 

But ive talked to a few ppl now about AEW and all of them, every last one of them, sort of closet wrestling fans, they all to a man (and 10 women) said.  They thought AEW was gonna be more reality and sports based and not WWE light. 

I have to agree with them also as its quite apparent there really isnt much direction there, it almost seems like they are allowed to do what they want and at times it works but at times it fails miserably. 

[SpeedFlex27]

Audio issues, I can't hear Jim Ross or Tony Chiavone as their voices just get washed into the crowd noise. They have to fix that.

[ediger]

Oh god, what have I started!?

Edited December 13, 2019 by ediger

[ediger]

2 hours ago, Jpan85 said:

I like the music. Its different there is some real good entrances. My favourite might be Hangman Page, Mox is good, like the Best Friends, of course Judas is probably the best.

Page's music is great. Starts off big and it fits his character really well. Judas also works really well as a theme for the same reasons. Not much of a Fozzy fan but they know what they're doing.

Most of my complaints I think will be worked out in time. I can see what they're going for in most cases but something's just not quite there yet. To be expected for a new organization I suppose.

EDIT: FYI, if anyone ever wants to hire me as a pro-wrestler, my music will be Oowatanite by April Wine, please and thanks.

Edited December 13, 2019 by ediger

[Goalie]

Almost 1 million ppl have turned aew off from week 1. They have problems. Real ones. Dont seem to be connecting with non indy wrestling fans. 

[The Unknown Poster]

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

My only real issue with AEW is.. Its kind of the same show every week.. Big spots not much selling.. I also think their audio is a problem.. 

But ive talked to a few ppl now about AEW and all of them, every last one of them, sort of closet wrestling fans, they all to a man (and 10 women) said.  They thought AEW was gonna be more reality and sports based and not WWE light. 

I have to agree with them also as its quite apparent there really isnt much direction there, it almost seems like they are allowed to do what they want and at times it works but at times it fails miserably. 

Hmmm I have to question if you actually watch it lol

I think they've had one show that was not *that* great so being the same show every week is pretty good.  Their PPV builds will be slower because they only do 4 per year.  A major complaint of WWE is their constant PPV building leaves little room for stories to breath (and Vince's new thing is PPV's dont need any build).

I think its very clear there are key creative directions.  They just dont blow six weeks of booking in one three hour RAW.  Although I'd love to hear an example from you (maybe you have a point).  I think everything with Jericho and the World title is clearly well thought out.  Cody's angles are all well planned.  Hangman.  Bucks.  Kenny.  Pac.  Dark Order.  Darby.  Janela.  SCU.  There's obviously plans in place for just about everyone.  They're cycling guys in and out of their TV show though so not everyone appears every week.  

Other than one segment with Jericho there is really nothing that seems like WWE-lite (and even then, I think that was the point).

[The Unknown Poster]

13 minutes ago, Goalie said:

Almost 1 million ppl have turned aew off from week 1. They have problems. Real ones. Dont seem to be connecting with non indy wrestling fans. 

This isnt true.  They havent lost a million people.  Nor do they have "real problems".  

The only demo they dont routinely beat NXT is the 50+.  So I would agree, in terms of the older WWE fan, AEW isnt grabbing them.  

AEW debuted with 1.4 million.  They were always going to pop a number for their debut.  They dropped to 1 million the following week.  Keep in mind NXT had a two week head start and still got beat almost every week.  They're averaging 871,000 viewers per week.

TNT wanted 500,000 to start and grow.  They've beaten expectations in every thing they've done thus far.    There are over 1.6 million fans watching wrestling on wednesday nights.  

 

[The Unknown Poster]

33 minutes ago, ediger said:

Page's music is great. Starts off big and it fits his character really well. Judas also works really well as a theme for the same reasons. Not much of a Fozzy fan but they know what they're doing.

Most of my complaints I think will be worked out in time. I can see what they're going for in most cases but something's just not quite there yet. To be expected for a new organization I suppose.

EDIT: FYI, if anyone ever wants to hire me as a pro-wrestler, my music will be Oowatanite by April Wine, please and thanks.

Yes Page has great music and they did a great job with him too.  He was cold cold cold after losing to Jericho and now is very over.  One thing I think AEW could use is like an editor.  They dont want "writers" and basically its Cody, Bucks, Kenny, Tony K booking with a few producers.  But I think the four VP's all have very different creative visions which is good...but they could use a couple people who are sort of helping keeping things on the rails.  Tough for guys to do it while working full time too.  They might have that, who knows.  Weekly TV is hard.  And its really hard to book from scratch.  Once they get a few months of creative, it almost organically books itself.   WWE has been around for decades and suck so AEW being better than WWE after a couple months is great lol

[ediger]

22 minutes ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Yes Page has great music and they did a great job with him too.  He was cold cold cold after losing to Jericho and now is very over.  One thing I think AEW could use is like an editor.  They dont want "writers" and basically its Cody, Bucks, Kenny, Tony K booking with a few producers.  But I think the four VP's all have very different creative visions which is good...but they could use a couple people who are sort of helping keeping things on the rails.  Tough for guys to do it while working full time too.  They might have that, who knows.  Weekly TV is hard.  And its really hard to book from scratch.  Once they get a few months of creative, it almost organically books itself.   WWE has been around for decades and suck so AEW being better than WWE after a couple months is great lol

Page has the look and feel of a big star. It's just a matter of time before he catches fire. You can kinda feel their homegrown stuff starting to catch on. MJF is going to be something special. I buy into him being a piece of crap when he talks.

I know there were some complaints about the Dark Order despite their matches generally being good but I think they've got a good think going now. Depending on which way they go, I think their angle could be one of the edgiest we've seen since the cold war stuff in WWF. They could go the general cult route which would still be alright but it kinda feels like they're playing off some of the whacko incel mindset you see, particularly in the States. If they go THAT route, holy shite...

Also digging the addition of The Butcher and The Blade. Those guys are badass and I think they'll be a hit in short order. Maybe one two many "creepy" teams/factions with Butcher/Blade/Bunny, Dark Order and the Nightmare Collective. However, Nightmare Collective looks like it might be bringing in Dr. Luther, which would be pretty cool to see even if he is 50+ years old. And depending on her contract status, Butcher/Blade/Bunny could bring in Rosemary with her Demon Assassin character and add another Winnipegger to the mix.

Edited December 13, 2019 by ediger

[The Unknown Poster]

9 minutes ago, ediger said:

Page has the look and feel of a big star. It's just a matter of time before he catches fire. You can kinda feel their homegrown stuff starting to catch on. MJF is going to be something special. I buy into him being a piece of crap when he talks.

I know there were some complaints about the Dark Order despite their matches generally being good but I think they've got a good think going now. Depending on which way they go, I think their angle could be one of the edgiest we've seen since the cold war stuff in WWF. They could go the general cult route which would still be alright but it kinda feels like they're playing off some of the whacko incel mindset you see, particularly in the States. If they go THAT route, holy shite...

Also digging the addition of The Butcher and The Blade. Those guys are badass and I think they'll be a hit in short order. Maybe one two many "creepy" teams/factions with Butcher/Blade/Bunny, Dark Order and the Nightmare Collective. However, Nightmare Collective looks like it might be bringing in Dr. Luther, which would be pretty cool to see even if he is 50+ years old. And depending on her contract status, Butcher/Blade/Bunny could bring in Rosemary with her Demon Assassin character and add another Winnipegger to the mix.

Agreed.  I thought Dark Order was a bit weak at first but seems like the plan was to let them debut, let people see them and then start a bigger angle.  The videos have been awesome.   The only complaint I think has some merit is its a big similar to Brandi's angle.  Maybe by design....?

I also like Butcher & Blade.  Some complaints about their debut but man, I thought it was good.  Its nice to see new people.  

Darby is going to be huge.  Reminds me of Jeff Hardy.  Luchasauras is going to be huge too.  He's awesome.   

Keep hearing people say AEW guys are unavailable for indie bookings.  Maybe it depends who you know...maybe 😉 

[Jpan85]

Personally I like the less slick refined product. I don't mind the announcer slipping up there being a few hick ups with productions. Gives it a more real feel especially when you compare it to WWE's slick production. 

[ediger]

2 hours ago, Jpan85 said:

Personally I like the less slick refined product. I don't mind the announcer slipping up there being a few hick ups with productions. Gives it a more real feel especially when you compare it to WWE's slick production. 

I prefer a rougher production as well. One of the things that turns me off of WWE currently is the look of everything. Not really a fan of the super bright/shiny look they have going with LED boards everywhere. I think with AEW, they just need a sound tech more experienced in live sports or something. Sometimes things seem like they're a bit muddy sound-wise. Part of it sounds like mic placement/number of mics used and part of it sounds like the mix. Push the crowd wider on the stereo mix and put the commentary/music more towards the centre. My two cents at least.

[The Unknown Poster]

I totally agree.  Wwe are terrific television producers but it’s too slick. Too scripted. To formulaic. 
 

i can forgive snafus because they’re trying to be less refined. It’s about the wrestling after all and they’ve been great on that front. And let’s be honest even with some rougher production they are second only to wwe in that category too. 

[Jpan85]

One thing that I have enjoyed the most is no shakey camera with AEW when there is a beat down.

[Brandon]

7 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

I totally agree.  Wwe are terrific television producers but it’s too slick. Too scripted. To formulaic. 

From what I heard on shoot interviews online is that on nxt they rehearse the complete matches days before they actually do them.   That kind of stuff just makes it so dull to watch.

[The Unknown Poster]

7 hours ago, Brandon said:

From what I heard on shoot interviews online is that on nxt they rehearse the complete matches days before they actually do them.   That kind of stuff just makes it so dull to watch.

All their programs do rehearsals. I think it was nxt UK that recently had a rehearsal leak when it was accidentally uploaded to YouTube.  But even raw & SD do rehearsals although they often change their script so close to bell time. Their tv call times are so early for that reason and some guys end up sitting around all day while the script is changed.  
 

but yeah nxt does more intensive rehearsals probably because they have time (they’re in the performance centre all the time) and because the scripts are prepared in advance. 
 

some of wwe documentaries show little glimpses of rehearsals even as simple as guys practicing their entrances. 
 

most promotions, even little ones like ours, guys will sort of compete for pre-show ring time if they have spots they want to go over. But certainly not a rehearsal level of detail.  
 

interesting tidbit. There is a local guy who is a veteran and very talented.  But he once told me he has trouble remembering all the spots planned in matches. Whereas another guy who became a star has a ridiculous memory and not only always has every spot down, will know where every other guy in a match is supposed to be and when.  One of the factors of success. 

[The Unknown Poster]

 

[SpeedFlex27]

3 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

 

So,he was the original Smash.  I always thought they were a takeoff on the Road Warriors not Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th. 

Edited December 15, 2019 by SpeedFlex27

[Goalie]

Couple Jets jerseys in Minneapolis tonight at the TLC ppv.