A clip popped up on my YouTube of Stephanie McMahon introducing the “Paul Levesque” era and for whatever reason I never thought about the fact that her married name isn’t actually McMahon-Helmsley. Oops.
Danhausen got me legit interested in independent wrestling. This is why it's hard for me to consistently watch AEW. I know these 2 can put on an incredible match, but I have no reason to care. There's no stakes, build, or story.
It’s a Dynamite episode, you think every Raw/SD match every week has long builds? WWE still throws plenty of matches together because well you gotta fill time.
the Ospreay vs Bryan feud is definitely very light on story but someone facing a "lesser" member of their opponent's stable before the PPV is pretty much pro wrestling 101. I'm sure Jey Uso will be wrestling Judgment Day members before Backlash (assuming that's when the title match is)
People bump into each in the hallway and have matches because of it in this business. It’s literally happened DOZENS of times. What are you complaining about? Do they need to piss off Teddy Long so they go ONE ON ONE WITH THE UNDERTAKER?!
I guess I just think some matches deserve some kind of interaction prior to announcing and put Claudio/Osprey in that category. I also think AEW has wasted Claudio, so I'm biased.
I think it's reasonable to critique a promotion when it wastes a PPV level match/feud on a random weekday show when the stakes aren't there. That's not what is happening here, and I also don't think Claudio is a big enough name for that to ever really be true of. This is actually the way he's supposed to be used.
they could’ve set up an angle between the two last night to set up the match next week but instead used that time to have him cut a promo on HHH
Uncle Howdy teases have started. Along the same lines of the rabbit. In arena and on WWEs X account so far
AEW gets held to an unfair standard at times. Claudio vs Ospreay is a great match, adjacent to the Ospreay vs Danielson feud. But because it's certain to be PPV quality, people look at it and say "what a waste." Claudio vs Ospreay is a great match that serves a purpose. It could just be a great match for no reason and it still would be fine for a random TV episode. Having it make sense is exactly what people have been asking for. More of this, not less.
A lot of people suffering from short term memory syndrome thinking the Mania build is the norm for WWE. Why did Nakamura fight the NXT champion last week? Why was Ricochet in a #1 contender’s match for the World Championship? Chelsea Green’s match was set up because she complained in the back. Criticize AEW for the reasons they deserve to be criticized. Don’t hold them to an unrealistic standard. Hell, the standard Raw main event build for 25 years has been Superstar A starts the show with a promo and Superstar B interrupts. Plenty of things to bitch about from both companies. No need to make up reasons.
In fairness, I completely tuned out and scrolled my phone for the Nakamura match for the same complaint I made for Osprey/Claudio. But the Chelsea match had a backstage segment leading in that had me interested to see what happened (who is she facing? Oh, Jade? Let's see what this looks like). And Ricochet was in a match with stakes where the winner sets up the story for the next few weeks.
I for one am glad Tony found his Claudio wrestling figure in the back of the closet and put this match together. It’s the same formula WWE uses. Person A is in a feud with Person B who is also in a group with Person C so A&C have a match. Wish their was some sort of interaction setting that up but it’s a starting point so I’ll take it.
Ricochet has won like 3 or 4 televised singles matches in a row too so they at least gave him some momentum going into that
I don't think anyone is saying WWE doesn't do it too. The difference is WWE also does it right sometimes too, and has been lately and in big moments. And outside 1/2 people itt, when WWE isn't hot (which it is now), there is plenty of criticism thrown their way too.
Claudio is there to weaken Ospreay before he faces the leader of their group. Like ZeroPointZero said, Wrestling 101. Would it have changed things for you if they announced next week as Ospreay vs a mystery member from BCC? Why was Ricochet in the #1 contender’s match? Was he even on the Mania card?
I also think when wwe is bad it's just boring and people tune out and this thread is just silent. It's not as car crash discussion inducing like spurned TK booking lately. Just more to talk about and discus
It's just about utilizing the TV time they have, especially their most watched show Dynamite. We know Will was there and had time on the show, so set up an interaction with the 2 that explains the "why?" beyond just them having a mutual connection to the PPV match. It doesn't have to be crazy detailed or layered, but even just a backstage confrontation where Will or Cesaro lays down the challenge. That to me is more effective than what they did with Ospreay and also more useful than just announcing it on Twitter the next day.
I will say bad AEW is better than bad WWE. I'm guilty of just tuning out for stretches of WWE without giving it much notice. It just happens to be hot now.
Disagree with the last part. Ospreay taking a deserved shot back at Triple H resonates much more than those two bumping into each other in the back. We know why they’re fighting next week. Same reason any Roman challenger for the past two years fought every member of the Bloodline as the main event on Smackdown.
I haven’t watch 2000 WCW since, well, 2000. And it wasn’t long after that I checked out on wrestling 100% for around a decade. I easily forgot most of what I watched during that era of wrestling. Need to check it out on Peacock, see what all the fuss is about.
I’m only 10 minutes into the first episode of year 2000 Nitro and I can already tell this is going to be a shit show.
I think AEW is being criticized fairly and most people are accurately calling the situation. It's a lop-sided product right now. They can agent some banger Pay Per Views consistently but they are drowning with the week to week product. It's choppy and mostly illogical. Watching this week's Dynamite really made me feel like I was watching Dixie Carter era TNA again. Nonsensical storylines, weird pacing and production values and a boss looking to make a name for themselves. The fallout has been extreme with them nosediving the TV product at the exact same time HHH has turned around WWE. In result, they will absolutely get that heavy feedback.
Match-wise at least that whole first episode was built around a tag team tournament that they had Crowbar and David Flair win
They really had Chris Benoit win the WCW Championship only for him to leave for WWF the next day what on fucking earth
Khan is building the corporate infrastructure at AEW. More importantly than going after every big name free agent wrestler, grab those people that improve production and writing. There are a lot of great stories to be told, I hope they get told well.
I think the story was morale was so bad that Bischoff told everyone if you don't want to be here he would let them out of their contract. That was Benoit, Eddie, Saturn, and Malenko.
also helped that Mike Graham is a fucking idiot and basically told Benoit he would kill him and created a potential HR nightmare so they had no choice but to release those guys if only Mike went through with it
He’s recently hired a proven writer, just hope he listens to her and her team and not override it on a whim like Vince. AEW also has crazy injury/rest issues right now. There’s no Kenny, MJF, Hangman, or Britt at the moment. Heel Hangman was absolutely cooking, and the feud with Swerve is something they can go back to for years and still be hot (assuming they’re both still in AEW).
SIX New York Rules Matches A Table Match And a battle royale for the WCW title #1 contendership All on the same card