All Elite Wrestling Thread (It's Wednesday...you know what that means.)

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

It might be okay. Dustin had good matches in the end of his WWE run for what he was given (not much.) But Dustin there to be an agent is better. He was always pretty good (except in TNA when he was battling his drug addiction, he was awful then) and has a lot of knowledge to give. If he could give some good old school ideas for Kenny Omega to mix in with his modern style that could be interesting.

[Bandit]

[Bandit]

[Bandit]

Private Party from CZW signed with AEW. So their tag division is bulking up.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

[Bandit]

Because of the AEW association. Piss ant company, huh?

[Dr. Zoidberg]

It's a shitty thing to do. Hopefully karma bites WWE in the ass eventually.

[Bandit]

Cody talks about Dustin and throws a shot back at HHH. It's a great promo.

[Big Boss Man]

That's a better promo than anything WWE has put out for years. Becky's Conor McGregor cosplay is boring to me.

[Bandit]

She isn't drawing. She headlined Wrestlemania and got no boost. Of course it didn't help they put her in a feud with a woman who has a shitty punch for a finisher. But her ratings are weak even with women. The best ratings from women are for Roman Reigns when you look at the numbers. The ladies love them some Big Dog.

And Dustin and Cody doing great promos on their own without some dumbass writers isn't surprising when you remember who their father was. They're not as good as Dusty (but no one is) but if they're 25% as good as Dusty that's pretty damn great.

My problem with Cody promos in the past was he tended to be hammy. But since he cut that out he's great. I think he was trying to be over the top to try his way of being Dusty's larger than life charisma. And it didn't work at all. Because that was natural for Dusty and isn't natural for Cody who seems more introverted. But he's done a lot of thinking since AEW came to be so I think he may have figured out how to be his own man.

If he can be at this level for everybody and not just Dustin (since they've worked on this feud for 5 or 6 years wanting to do it in WWE) he could be something special. His ring work will never be at the level of Kenny or even Christopher Daniels, but this kind of thing can sell a match as looking real. Like we know Dustin and Cody became very close in WWE and even closer after Dusty died. But they did have issues in the past they're laying out here. Dustin was jealous of the relationship Cody had with Dusty and Cody was angry at Dustin for causing Dusty and his mother and Dustin's mother so much worry when he was on drugs pretty bad in the 2000s. So they can play that out and it's compelling. WWE's version of based on reality is Vince being an asshole to Kofi because he doesn't think black champions draw.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Big Boss Man]

New BTE~!

[Bandit]

That was a weak episode, but the Bucks work out was pretty impressive.

[Big Boss Man]

She isn't drawing. She headlined Wrestlemania and got no boost. Of course it didn't help they put her in a feud with a woman who has a shitty punch for a finisher. But her ratings are weak even with women. The best ratings from women are for Roman Reigns when you look at the numbers. The ladies love them some Big Dog.

And Dustin and Cody doing great promos on their own without some dumbass writers isn't surprising when you remember who their father was. They're not as good as Dusty (but no one is) but if they're 25% as good as Dusty that's pretty damn great.

My problem with Cody promos in the past was he tended to be hammy. But since he cut that out he's great. I think he was trying to be over the top to try his way of being Dusty's larger than life charisma. And it didn't work at all. Because that was natural for Dusty and isn't natural for Cody who seems more introverted. But he's done a lot of thinking since AEW came to be so I think he may have figured out how to be his own man.

If he can be at this level for everybody and not just Dustin (since they've worked on this feud for 5 or 6 years wanting to do it in WWE) he could be something special. His ring work will never be at the level of Kenny or even Christopher Daniels, but this kind of thing can sell a match as looking real. Like we know Dustin and Cody became very close in WWE and even closer after Dusty died. But they did have issues in the past they're laying out here. Dustin was jealous of the relationship Cody had with Dusty and Cody was angry at Dustin for causing Dusty and his mother and Dustin's mother so much worry when he was on drugs pretty bad in the 2000s. So they can play that out and it's compelling. WWE's version of based on reality is Vince being an asshole to Kofi because he doesn't think black champions draw.

Yea, there's something missing with Becky that's not connecting with the audience. That's the main issue and why she's not drawing. You need the talent to exude that believability aspect of their character. Becky's promos seem forced, like She's trying too hard to be like Conor, but its not working out because it's not a natural extension of her personality. Conor was such a big draw for the UFC because he was super cocky, smarmy and was essentially a classic pro-wrestling heel, but above all, he was just being himself.

Dusty was definitely in a league of his own, and unfortunately his style of promos is almost a lost art. If the promos and build up packages are any indication of AEW's future TV product, it's going to be really good. Wrestling is missing that human aspect, as everyone in WWE talks like a robot and is micromanaged to the nth degree. I think it would really suck if the Elite had gone there and we'd have seen them with cookie cutter wack PG adjusted gimmicks. They'd probably
be fine if they went to NXT but as soon as they hit the main roster, then that would be when they'd be booked in cruddy feuds (probably a multitude of Kenny vs Dolph matches for example) and then get lost in the mix.

But with AEW, they seem smart enough to give the talent the ball and know they'll run with it. The Cody v Dustin match is more intriguing to me than anything that got built up for WrestleMania this year. But with WWE, they have thousands of hours of programming they can "borrow" from and update with a modern twist and actually make the product more exciting. Instead we have the 30+ writers coming up with Bray as a Mr Rogers type character (?!). Which, yea it could be fun and might work, but on paper, it's WrestleCrap gold. Plus if he gets over organically, they'll repackage him as even more like Mr Rogers and sell the puppets as toys on WWEShop

[Big Boss Man]

That was a weak episode, but the Bucks work out was pretty impressive.

Yea, thought they'd continue the storyline with Marty. Kenny spending all the budget is though.

[Bandit]

I wonder if Kenny is doing a low key Paul Heyman parody. He has a giant phone, he's always wearing the jacket of his company, always wearing a baseball cap, spending money that he doesn't have, acting manic, making false promises. Sounds like 1990s Paul E.

[Bandit]

Yea, there's something missing with Becky that's not connecting with the audience. That's the main issue and why she's not drawing. You need the talent to exude that believability aspect of their character. Becky's promos seem forced, like She's trying too hard to be like Conor, but its not working out because it's not a natural extension of her personality. Conor was such a big draw for the UFC because he was super cocky, smarmy and was essentially a classic pro-wrestling heel, but above all, he was just being himself.

Well, it's good she's not really like Conor IRL because we have seen where his life has taken him.

But she's much better on Twitter. Some people are better writers and can't express it in a performance. And I think maybe she was only good with Ronda as a foil because Ronda is so unintentionally goofy that she was easy to dunk on. I don't think Ember Moon would inspire any good lines from her. She can mock Lacey Evans since she's what the modern women's wrestling fans all hate: someone who looks great but sucks in the ring but gets a push anyway because Vince wants to bang her. And you can dunk on Bayley for the Sasha stuff. But after that she has nothing.

And her voice makes her sound kind of dumb. It's not her fault, but when she talks she sounds like a dimwit. And I like Irish accents, but hers is weird.

But Steve Austin sounds like a dumb redneck but nobody ever thought he was because he was a great communicator and she isn't.

[Big Boss Man]

I wonder if Kenny is doing a low key Paul Heyman parody. He has a giant phone, he's always wearing the jacket of his company, always wearing a baseball cap, spending money that he doesn't have, acting manic, making false promises. Sounds like 1990s Paul E.

Yes, now you mentioned, it does seem very reminiscent of Paul E. But to give him his due, he hustled his way into making ECW a credible threat to WWE and WCW in their heyday. If he had Ted's chequebook instead of Bisch the Monday Night Wars could have ended up with ECW winning because he was that ahead of the curve.