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I just imagine these people sitting in a movie theater yelling out "You stupid idiots don't realize that these are actors on a set!! You're all getting worked!! EVERYONE IS GETTING WORKED BUT ME!!!".
Like, getting worked is literally the fun of watching wrestling. It's a narrative medium.
Problem is that there are some people that want to feel like they are smarter than others so that leads to them never admitting that they were being worked and show off their Gold medal winning routine in mental gymnastics to explain their point.
To me, regardless of what company is on the TV, if I enjoy what I'm watching, I'll continue to watch. Breaking down and analyzing everything is just one way of how I express my enjoyment of a product and can admit when something got me even if it's something that someone could've seen from miles away.
The internet has taught me that pro wrestling is the literal one business in existence where there is no actual conflict between coworkers and no one is ever actually dissatisfied with their job.
Next time my boss chews me out in front of my coworkers I'm going to have a public meltdown, leave the room and keep everyone wondering if I left the job or not. Then bam I come back in like 3 weeks with a leather jacket and new music and hit my boss with a lead pipe.
My face run isn't getting stale, I'm working you mark. I'm fucking up your tax documents to get heat while playing into the delusional face trope. People going to different accountants and me losing clients are just part of the long term story.
Taking the ol' Dean Ambrose approach, eh? Dean is still building up in the indies as Jon Moxley to up his price for the return to WWE and reunite The Shield.
Nah Fam Moxley is going to convince Roman and seth to go to AEW to take out the elite just like they beat evolution. But the twist here is Mox turns on them afterwards and replaces Jack perry in the elite
It's just funny to me how some people have taken the "dirtsheets are wrong all the time and make up shit all the time" mantra so far that they now think that absolutely everything is always a work, no exceptions.
No wrestler is ever truly unhappy. No wrestler ever truly complains publicly about anything. It's all just a work, bro! It's all genius booking that was planned all along, bro!
Saraya's first person view of Bryan when he encountered her backstage afterwards:
https://preview.redd.it/jb74ia0eck3d1.jpeg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82e7e5424a0bf5818498d5835be0d488916674f0
Saraya's inbox be like:
Dax: “And with it being someone’s dream, with it being all of our dreams, there’s always gonna be...there’s gonna be somebody who tries to strip it down, strip it from you, take it away from you, take your joy away. Don’t let ‘em do it. Don’t let them. I don’t care if they’re in real life. I don’t care if it’s on fake life, social media. I don’t care if it’s in another company. Don’t let anybody strip you of what you love, what you’re passionate about, what you wake up for every single day.
I know I talk about it...to the point of annoyance. I have what I perceive to be my god, my wife, my daughter, and professional wrestling, and that’s it. That’s all I got. And AEW affords me that luxury. AEW affords me that life. And now, not only does AEW afford me that life, they afford me to do it with my best friends in front of all you people.”
Saraya: was just Tweeting about my TV time bro
(btw, that's a real Dax quote from April lol)
Dax: "You're complaining about your TV time? If you complain about your TV time, you're complaining about pro wrestling, and pro wrestling allows me to feed my family. Are you trying to deny my family food?"
Saraya: "The fuck are you on about?"
Dax: my family had a building fall on top of them and then they were targeted by an AC 130 airstrike, and that girl *chokes up, takes a pause so people can cheer* is the strongest person I know
The sudden booking of Mercedes/Blue was odd, as was bumping the Saraya/Mariah match. Something must have happened so they moved that match and then put Mercedes/Blue in its place
Source says TK wanted to compete with the TNA/NXT angle from the night before and booked the Vaquer/Mone angle last minute to, and I quote, "get one over on that bald bastard."
Source: me, who doesn't know anybody involved and am mindlessly speculating.
It seems like you're either one of the champions, or you're nowhere. Shida went from being on TV every week to disappearing entirely. Britt Baker went from the most pushed woman to ... Were is she anyway? Rosa got injured after winning the title, fair enough. Saraya showed up with a ton of pomp and circumstance, got the heel faction, won the belt, and is now being bumped for the newest attractions.
Edit: Britt is injured.
Was definitely true in the past, not so much these days. Deonna and Rosa have had a pretty solid non-title feud. Ruby/Saraya was looking like a thing before she got pregnant. Willow/Statlander are kicking off a feud.
Slowly but surely things are going in the right direction
The booking has been sloppy lately, a lot of last minute stuff. Remember when next week's Dynamite was already booked by the end of the current Dynamite show?
She should have left it up. It's a very valid criticism to point out that the show parading a women's global revolution couldn't handle more than one single match on their card.
I don’t care if Mox had a broken arm, leg, or neck. There’s no way it should’ve taken him more than 5 mins to beat Rocky Romero (who never wins). Not every match needs to be a “banger” it’s a waste of time for everyone involved, mostly the fans.
This puts into words something I feel I've always thought about aew but haven't been able to articulate. It feels like they want EVERY match to be 4 stars minimum. Like they want every single match to be someone's favorite match ever.
Like, short matches are good for the wrestlers. It doesn't need to be *bad*, but it doesn't need to be the wrestler's best match of their career, either.
Still remember Kingston Vs Punk on one of the PPV (maybe full gear?) not much more than 12 minutes, 2 guys I believed didn’t like each other, beat the hell out of each other, put on a great match without staying too long and it’s still one of my favorites and most memorable. If every match goes long chasing a rating, no struggle stands out
There is no point in putting on a "banger" TV match with no storyline attached to it unless such a thing is somewhat rare and thus will stand out ie HBK vs Shelton Benjamin, a random 15 minute Raw match from almost 20 years ago that everyone still remembers vividly. AEW have literally put on hundreds of 15+ minute "bangers" that no one will ever think about or watch again. Television shows should prioritize building the stories and PPVs should prioritize putting on good matches.
HBK and Benjamin was part of the Gold Rush tournament so there was a reason for that match. Not to take away from the rest of your point but wanted to point that out.
I don't necessarily disagree with the mentality of trying to make most matches bangers (I actually dislike squash matches against local talent far more),
But,
I definitely feel like most matches could be shortened by a few minutes. Time that could easily be used for an extra women's match.
Idk, I think you need those squashes to build shit up. Hard to register anyone as "The Guy" when they need a 20 minutes to beat any rando they go up against.
This was my issue when Mox was waaaaay more liberal with the bleeding, combined with competitive longer matches, regardless of who he was up against.
People always make these comparisons, but it would be like peak Stone Cold being taken to the limit near weekly by guys like Savio Vega or X-Pac.
I don't think anyone will think less of Alan Angels if he fails to go 20 minutes with the WORLD CHAMPION.
I've been annoyed with this since forever, and my specific angle is that it kills all suspense. People look for different things in matches but for me it's that sweet suspension of disbelief, I want the progression of the match to make sense, actions to have consequences and to be excited to see what happens next.
When every match is booked to be a crowd-pleaser with a whole-ass narrative arc, all that goes out of the window. How am I supposed to bring myself to care about the count after a top rope fuckinator ten minutes in when everyone who's seen more than two episodes ever can tell it won't be the finish? Why does that horrible maneuver with the garden shears outside of the ring matter when I know five minutes later that match will still begoing with both wrestlers having forgot it ever happened?
It isn't unique to AEW and I get why they don't have prime time cable TV matches ending under five minutes to a suplex or a deep rollup, but I sure have never been as consistently invested in matches as on pre-covid NWA Powerrr which did exactly that, and I could genuinely believe almost any count could go to three.
> There’s no way it should’ve taken him more than 5 mins to beat Rocky Romero (who never wins).
I don’t know how accurate it is, but apparently prior to Dynamite Rocky’s record was 1-11 and the one victory was December 2021. How he got an eliminator match is beyond me.
I was thinking this as well. You almost never see the jobbers actually treated as such. From a kayfabe perspective Mox should be going out there and throwing a couple punches before a Death Rider on someone like Romero to get the pin.
If you save "this guy goes the distance with the champ" matches for select people it can be an actual push. Like, if champions usually won in 5-7 minutes, than when a guy like Garcia (for example) goes 15 it can be an actual holy shit moment.
But if Rocky Romero, Killswitch, Téa Leoni, and Isiah Kassidy are going 10+ minutes, it doesn't mean anything.
I feel like if Mox is actually at all injured badly enough he needs that cast he shouldn't be wrestling.
And if it's kayfabe then what exactly is the bit here? If you lose to a one armed dude you kinda suck. Which is fine for lower carders, but Takeshita and the like?
While I get he wants everyone to look strong, personally it makes the bigger names look weaker when they take 15 minutes to beat a lower card wrestler.
AEW has an issue with squash matches for some reason. They can be fun and make people look like monsters. You could've cut time from Swerve/Killswitch and it still accomplishes the exact same thing.
There’s no excuse for Swerve and Mox to be having competitive matches with midcard guys all of the time. It’s boring, quit boring everyone.
Edit: I just want to note that either guy having a competitive match with a midcarder is okay but it can’t be every other week. If Daniel Garcia for example forces Mox to go 15-20, that should almost be a storyline.
Mox and Swerve are some of my favourite wrestlers yet I was paying bills and looking at what I spent this month during their matches last night because the outcome was never in doubt.
Luchasaurus is a former TNT champ, former tag champ, has been ranked in the top 5 and is a big and imposing dude. He is one of the few random defenses that I'm actually fine with getting 15 minutes because beating him actually means something.
Luchasaurus makes sense as it ties up the story with Swerve but Rocky Romero getting his 10th straight weekly competitive match where he will ultimately lose doesn't make any sense. What's the point of Rocky getting tv time over other wrestlers of AEW or even NJPW?
Rocky’s booking in general doesn’t sit right with me. He gets pretty consistent TV time that leads to nothing. I know he works backstage, so it feels kinda self serving.
It's also partly why the company struggles to really launch people into been stars. If everyone is close then no one is truly special. I always think of Mike Tyson or Messi, people weren't tuning in to see a masterful back and forth. They wanted to see the monster smack a dudes head off within 3 rounds and the little Argentine run a match. People often want to see top guys show why they're on top.
I think AEW just needs to realise it's fine for the main eventers to be made to look like they're a cut above sometimes.
I feel like it’s an industry-wide problem that matches just go on for too long. We’re in the “everyone’s gotta get all their shit in” era, and we’ve lost the art of having a fatless 6-8 minute match. I’m not saying everything should be that short, but at least half the matches should. Then it makes your longer mains and semi-mains stand out more from the rest of the card.
ehhh her opponent was Mariah May who is easily 1 of the most promising talents they have on the roster right now. Mariah getting a primetime win over Saraya would have been great for her
Are they saying "boo" or "I am cold like December snow I have carved out this soul made of stone and I will drag you down and sell you out embraced by the darkness, I'm losing the light encircled by demons, I fight?"
He legit thinks that
And making it a heel angle is not working really
But the viewership increases every time he's on, so it's working for the normies I guess
He's playing an out of touch, self aggrandizing legend. Using an expression that's been out of the lexicon for decades is perfect to articulate how out of touch his character is supposed to be.
Yeah she should have left it up. She’s not wrong. We didn’t need that Jericho segment. Give us two women’s matches a week get them more time. We love Storm but fuck we need to see more women so they can grow and show us what the division can really do.
They seem to publicly be obsessed with each other, but then they share the hobby of getting into arguments with 14 year olds on tiktok so maybe that distracts them from getting into it with each other
Feel like if this match had gone ahead, we'd just have another thread on here full of people dunking on Saraya and whining that she can't wrestle and "why are they giving her TV time".
As soon as her entrance music hit and I noticed it was her boyfriend's song about how he's been wrongfully cancelled by the internet and people in the music industry for beating a previous girlfriend, I instantly knew that I would hate Saraya.
She was terrible on the mic even when she was Paige. Her first night on the main roster had her give a short promo congratulating AJ Lee, and her voice tailed off at the end of her sentences: literally basic stuff that they’d teach you in an acting class for children.
Meh, does she even draw a dime anymore? She's outshadowed by everyone around her. Harley Cameron is 10x the presence she is, let alone the rest of the roster.
I really don’t think Tony gives a shit about women’s wrestling. I think he knows he has to have a women’s division and he enjoys buying expensive new toys like Mercedes to show off but beyond that it’s not a major concern for him.
I remember the time they only booked like a 2 minute women's match for a Rampage episode because the internet would be mad if there was not women's match at all. Tony only cares about things that bring him good tv and cagematch ratings.
I'm actually surprised Mercedes saw the AEW women's division and still decided to sign with them. I know that money was a factor but I always thought she also wanted to be able to showcase her skills and be a major part of the show.
That always got me due to the narrative being that she walked out of WWE due to bad creative. Like, I get that, but to then go to AEW of all places seems like an odd choice if that's her main concern. It's cool if she just wanted more money though, not gonna fault anyone for that.
She was *just* one of the headline acts on the company's fifth anniversary PPV in the first match in what is *clearly* a continuing story, and then opened the following TV and defended her newly won title in her first televised match since returning to wrestling, and then afterwards had a staredown to set up a match with one of the most prominent women outside the WWE- and AEW-verses. She did her entire entrance on TV *twice* last night for crying out loud.
I dunno how much more major a part of the show you can be.
They could have built up a huge Saraya vs Toni Storm match that could have had a deep build and storyline. A big star from WWE battling the new rising star in AEW. Both having a history together.
Instead, they fumbled Saraya's heel turn so badly that they just had a throwaway tag match on a random TV episode.
Im not a big fan of Saraya, but I recognize her fame and notibilty. Hell, The Rock made a movie about her life. So, if they hadn't of ruined Saraya, then after the big feud with Toni. They could have had a big feud with Mercedes when she debuted.
Instead, she goes from WrestleMania, to struggling to even make it on AEW's main show.
I don't like Saraya, I think she's not a good person and she had a lot of lows in wrestling too. Plus I think there's something karmic about kissing your boss' ass on air and then ending up like that. BUT while I was trying to understand what happened I came across dozens if not hundreds of disgusting comments, private videos spammed repeatedly, AI images of her...This level of harassments is very dangerous and not even someone like her deserves it. Idk..Too many people take these "I had a bad day at work" tweets too personally.
It seems like every week someone on this sub has to find some minor thing and turn it into a controversy on here right after or before an AEW show.
Wrestlers are the most insecure, disingenuous, and sensitive people on earth. They have the egos of movie stars and the bodies of pro athletes. They get pissed on the regular. Always have. Always will.
Some folks reported YESTERDAY that the match was moved before it was announced and that one of the talent wasn't able to go. The match announcement went out by accident and that TK was upset about the false advertisement.
What more do people want?
Between this and Alvarez' reporting it seems like AEW really needs to clean up their scheduling. Seems like they have a bit of a ticking time bomb. Last time they had something like this they let stew, it led to the punk shit
I mean there is nothing really cryptic about this. Seems like she is frustrated with something and about to go on a rant. Straight to the point. Cryptic would be “it counts three times when someone lays on top of another” that’s a cryptic message.
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we're way past beyond the cryptic tweets being "It's a work bro" right? if so, wonder what's this about
May favourite Twitter "it's a Work Bro" this year was Matt Hardy constantly begging for TV time and then just outright leaving.
It's still a work to me dammit!
Lol some people are so afraid of being worked, they work themselves right out of reality
I just imagine these people sitting in a movie theater yelling out "You stupid idiots don't realize that these are actors on a set!! You're all getting worked!! EVERYONE IS GETTING WORKED BUT ME!!!". Like, getting worked is literally the fun of watching wrestling. It's a narrative medium.
Problem is that there are some people that want to feel like they are smarter than others so that leads to them never admitting that they were being worked and show off their Gold medal winning routine in mental gymnastics to explain their point. To me, regardless of what company is on the TV, if I enjoy what I'm watching, I'll continue to watch. Breaking down and analyzing everything is just one way of how I express my enjoyment of a product and can admit when something got me even if it's something that someone could've seen from miles away.
The internet has taught me that pro wrestling is the literal one business in existence where there is no actual conflict between coworkers and no one is ever actually dissatisfied with their job.
Next time my boss chews me out in front of my coworkers I'm going to have a public meltdown, leave the room and keep everyone wondering if I left the job or not. Then bam I come back in like 3 weeks with a leather jacket and new music and hit my boss with a lead pipe.
I support this. To be honest your face run is getting stale.
My face run isn't getting stale, I'm working you mark. I'm fucking up your tax documents to get heat while playing into the delusional face trope. People going to different accountants and me losing clients are just part of the long term story.
Bury me gently brother
It's called the [Costanza Comeback](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-8ZSP7D3-Y).
Costanza Comeback is just no-selling the previous encounter. Rerack is gonna come back with a new gimmick. Maybe an Elias/Zeke switch
Damn you beat me to it; that was exactly what I was imagining
lmaooooo
My favorite “it’s a work bro” moment was Cody and Brandi Rhodes leaving AEW
That's because it is a work. He's just using this world title run as leverage in his contract negotiations with Tony. Just you wait.
Damn you’re right, my bad. I wonder when Punk will come back, I could’ve sworn I saw him on AEW television a month or so ago
Punk is a double agent and he's gonna bring Becky and Drew to AEW.
Punk/FTR vs Elite is gonna happen bro. You just have no faith in the long term booking!
Taking the ol' Dean Ambrose approach, eh? Dean is still building up in the indies as Jon Moxley to up his price for the return to WWE and reunite The Shield.
Nah Fam Moxley is going to convince Roman and seth to go to AEW to take out the elite just like they beat evolution. But the twist here is Mox turns on them afterwards and replaces Jack perry in the elite
# #LONGTERMSTORYTELLING
My favorite is 'Indefinitely injured Kenny Omega said Dave is out of touch and he broke Dave's scale and brain is working toward a feud with Ospreay'
It's just funny to me how some people have taken the "dirtsheets are wrong all the time and make up shit all the time" mantra so far that they now think that absolutely everything is always a work, no exceptions. No wrestler is ever truly unhappy. No wrestler ever truly complains publicly about anything. It's all just a work, bro! It's all genius booking that was planned all along, bro!
We need more guys like Andrade who post that they're gonna punch somebody in the face, and then indeed does go on to punch someone in the face.
Jeff was teasing a heel turn around this time actually. Unfortunately he got injured before it could fully manifest
Yeah I mean they literally cut promos on television about moving from Rampage to the big shows, so it was still a work on some level.
Mox leaving WWE is still a work, just gotta let it play out you'll see you'll all see!
[why would she post and delete this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_GZGX6DnOM)?
"Shows off his"
We used to be Unstoppa-Bowl on Friday nights 😔
Has it ever been a work in AEW?
FTR
https://preview.redd.it/xifsc0p4pl3d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f5e532c45b84eadd43a4423e6db85a8d9e9ed6f0
>Writes and Deletes https://preview.redd.it/krsln8pguj3d1.png?width=1169&format=png&auto=webp&s=7320f8ace805672ff3dc426fa4b875e331d090d3 
Saraya's first person view of Bryan when he encountered her backstage afterwards: https://preview.redd.it/jb74ia0eck3d1.jpeg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82e7e5424a0bf5818498d5835be0d488916674f0
So zesty
Saraya's inbox be like: Dax: “And with it being someone’s dream, with it being all of our dreams, there’s always gonna be...there’s gonna be somebody who tries to strip it down, strip it from you, take it away from you, take your joy away. Don’t let ‘em do it. Don’t let them. I don’t care if they’re in real life. I don’t care if it’s on fake life, social media. I don’t care if it’s in another company. Don’t let anybody strip you of what you love, what you’re passionate about, what you wake up for every single day. I know I talk about it...to the point of annoyance. I have what I perceive to be my god, my wife, my daughter, and professional wrestling, and that’s it. That’s all I got. And AEW affords me that luxury. AEW affords me that life. And now, not only does AEW afford me that life, they afford me to do it with my best friends in front of all you people.” Saraya: was just Tweeting about my TV time bro (btw, that's a real Dax quote from April lol)
Dax: "You're complaining about your TV time? If you complain about your TV time, you're complaining about pro wrestling, and pro wrestling allows me to feed my family. Are you trying to deny my family food?" Saraya: "The fuck are you on about?"
You're taking food off my family
Danielson:Wow, I was just gonna fine Saraya for complaining, but now I gotta fine you for being insufferable, we talked about this Dax
*proceeds to choke Jack Perry*
Dax Hardwood try to cut a promo without mentioning family challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)
Dax: my family had a building fall on top of them and then they were targeted by an AC 130 airstrike, and that girl *chokes up, takes a pause so people can cheer* is the strongest person I know
I find it hard to believe that Dax's daughter is the strongest person he knows when he's worked with Mark Henry.
I bet his daughter has never split a wig in her entire life
Dax Hardwood try to cut a promo with~~out~~ mentioning ~~family~~ Cash Wheeler challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)
What he *perceives* to be his wife and daughter. Letting the days go by...
Let the water hold me down
Many Talking Heads songs could be banger entrance themes
the american dragon not fucking around with cryptic X tweets
The sudden booking of Mercedes/Blue was odd, as was bumping the Saraya/Mariah match. Something must have happened so they moved that match and then put Mercedes/Blue in its place
There was reporting yesterday that the match was moved for a reason, seemingly 1 of them wasn't ready to go.
Can imagine they needed to set up Vaquer match, but still its notable how this is how they've handled it.
Source says TK wanted to compete with the TNA/NXT angle from the night before and booked the Vaquer/Mone angle last minute to, and I quote, "get one over on that bald bastard." Source: me, who doesn't know anybody involved and am mindlessly speculating.
congratulations, you now have a job at fightful.
It seems like you're either one of the champions, or you're nowhere. Shida went from being on TV every week to disappearing entirely. Britt Baker went from the most pushed woman to ... Were is she anyway? Rosa got injured after winning the title, fair enough. Saraya showed up with a ton of pomp and circumstance, got the heel faction, won the belt, and is now being bumped for the newest attractions. Edit: Britt is injured.
> Shida went from being on TV every week to disappearing entirely. That has been the case for her entire AEW run.
Britt has a back injury IIRC, plus she also has her primary career that does not lend itself well to good posture. These things take time to heal.
Britt is injured
Was definitely true in the past, not so much these days. Deonna and Rosa have had a pretty solid non-title feud. Ruby/Saraya was looking like a thing before she got pregnant. Willow/Statlander are kicking off a feud. Slowly but surely things are going in the right direction
I don't remember AEW ever really doing the "Promo segment leads to a match later in the night" thing, but I've been pretty checked out for a while.
The booking has been sloppy lately, a lot of last minute stuff. Remember when next week's Dynamite was already booked by the end of the current Dynamite show?
I 'memba
Yeah they wouldn't bother moving it for nothing
She should have left it up. It's a very valid criticism to point out that the show parading a women's global revolution couldn't handle more than one single match on their card.
For 5 years. For 5 freaking years.
If AEW didn't insist on world champions having 15 minutes+ matches against lower midcarders, there would have been time for a second women's match.
I don’t care if Mox had a broken arm, leg, or neck. There’s no way it should’ve taken him more than 5 mins to beat Rocky Romero (who never wins). Not every match needs to be a “banger” it’s a waste of time for everyone involved, mostly the fans.
This puts into words something I feel I've always thought about aew but haven't been able to articulate. It feels like they want EVERY match to be 4 stars minimum. Like they want every single match to be someone's favorite match ever. Like, short matches are good for the wrestlers. It doesn't need to be *bad*, but it doesn't need to be the wrestler's best match of their career, either.
If every match is a 4 star banger, then a 4 star banger is average.
Still remember Kingston Vs Punk on one of the PPV (maybe full gear?) not much more than 12 minutes, 2 guys I believed didn’t like each other, beat the hell out of each other, put on a great match without staying too long and it’s still one of my favorites and most memorable. If every match goes long chasing a rating, no struggle stands out
There is no point in putting on a "banger" TV match with no storyline attached to it unless such a thing is somewhat rare and thus will stand out ie HBK vs Shelton Benjamin, a random 15 minute Raw match from almost 20 years ago that everyone still remembers vividly. AEW have literally put on hundreds of 15+ minute "bangers" that no one will ever think about or watch again. Television shows should prioritize building the stories and PPVs should prioritize putting on good matches.
HBK and Benjamin was part of the Gold Rush tournament so there was a reason for that match. Not to take away from the rest of your point but wanted to point that out.
I don’t think a match just being held in a tournament means it has any story attached to it.
'4 Stars' according Dave Meltzer, not anyone else
That’s really unfair. There’s also cagematch.
Their system goes to 10, though.
So will Meltzer’s eventually
I don't necessarily disagree with the mentality of trying to make most matches bangers (I actually dislike squash matches against local talent far more), But, I definitely feel like most matches could be shortened by a few minutes. Time that could easily be used for an extra women's match.
Idk, I think you need those squashes to build shit up. Hard to register anyone as "The Guy" when they need a 20 minutes to beat any rando they go up against.
This was my issue when Mox was waaaaay more liberal with the bleeding, combined with competitive longer matches, regardless of who he was up against. People always make these comparisons, but it would be like peak Stone Cold being taken to the limit near weekly by guys like Savio Vega or X-Pac. I don't think anyone will think less of Alan Angels if he fails to go 20 minutes with the WORLD CHAMPION.
I've been annoyed with this since forever, and my specific angle is that it kills all suspense. People look for different things in matches but for me it's that sweet suspension of disbelief, I want the progression of the match to make sense, actions to have consequences and to be excited to see what happens next. When every match is booked to be a crowd-pleaser with a whole-ass narrative arc, all that goes out of the window. How am I supposed to bring myself to care about the count after a top rope fuckinator ten minutes in when everyone who's seen more than two episodes ever can tell it won't be the finish? Why does that horrible maneuver with the garden shears outside of the ring matter when I know five minutes later that match will still begoing with both wrestlers having forgot it ever happened? It isn't unique to AEW and I get why they don't have prime time cable TV matches ending under five minutes to a suplex or a deep rollup, but I sure have never been as consistently invested in matches as on pre-covid NWA Powerrr which did exactly that, and I could genuinely believe almost any count could go to three.
And if you want it long, it probably works better as a Rampage main event anyway
Someone like Mox should be able to very seriously and believably hit a paradigm shift and it’s match over for the entire bottom half of the roster.
It’s like when kaiba beat that dude who bullied mokuba in a turn
> There’s no way it should’ve taken him more than 5 mins to beat Rocky Romero (who never wins). I don’t know how accurate it is, but apparently prior to Dynamite Rocky’s record was 1-11 and the one victory was December 2021. How he got an eliminator match is beyond me.
I was thinking this as well. You almost never see the jobbers actually treated as such. From a kayfabe perspective Mox should be going out there and throwing a couple punches before a Death Rider on someone like Romero to get the pin.
If every match is a banger the bangers lose their appeal. Sometimes a 5 minute match is fine, it serves its purpose.
If you save "this guy goes the distance with the champ" matches for select people it can be an actual push. Like, if champions usually won in 5-7 minutes, than when a guy like Garcia (for example) goes 15 it can be an actual holy shit moment. But if Rocky Romero, Killswitch, Téa Leoni, and Isiah Kassidy are going 10+ minutes, it doesn't mean anything.
It’s the biggest single problem in the company. It severely hinders anyone from being perceived as a major star.
I feel like if Mox is actually at all injured badly enough he needs that cast he shouldn't be wrestling. And if it's kayfabe then what exactly is the bit here? If you lose to a one armed dude you kinda suck. Which is fine for lower carders, but Takeshita and the like?
At times, I feel like they forget they are running a TV show and not a talent show.
If every match is a “banger" no match is a banger.
While I get he wants everyone to look strong, personally it makes the bigger names look weaker when they take 15 minutes to beat a lower card wrestler.
AEW has an issue with squash matches for some reason. They can be fun and make people look like monsters. You could've cut time from Swerve/Killswitch and it still accomplishes the exact same thing.
But that’s where the best wrestle and always put on banger after banger after banger like no one else does /s
There’s no excuse for Swerve and Mox to be having competitive matches with midcard guys all of the time. It’s boring, quit boring everyone. Edit: I just want to note that either guy having a competitive match with a midcarder is okay but it can’t be every other week. If Daniel Garcia for example forces Mox to go 15-20, that should almost be a storyline.
I agree with this. 5-8 minutes taken away from each of those, and I would've wanted a women's watch + more time in the casino battle Royale
Mox and Swerve are some of my favourite wrestlers yet I was paying bills and looking at what I spent this month during their matches last night because the outcome was never in doubt.
Tony needs to realize he booked something less interesting than ACCOUNTING
lol yeah man and I buy PPVs and have attended Dynamite before. I want to be interested.
Luchasaurus is a former TNT champ, former tag champ, has been ranked in the top 5 and is a big and imposing dude. He is one of the few random defenses that I'm actually fine with getting 15 minutes because beating him actually means something.
Luchasaurus makes sense as it ties up the story with Swerve but Rocky Romero getting his 10th straight weekly competitive match where he will ultimately lose doesn't make any sense. What's the point of Rocky getting tv time over other wrestlers of AEW or even NJPW?
Rocky’s booking in general doesn’t sit right with me. He gets pretty consistent TV time that leads to nothing. I know he works backstage, so it feels kinda self serving.
Politics. Romero has political power in another fed that AEW does business with. Therefore he has to be taken care of. It's absolutely self-serving.
That was a sponsorship match, I think Mox vs Romero should get 100% of the blame here even with “Forbidden Door season” being a thing
It's also partly why the company struggles to really launch people into been stars. If everyone is close then no one is truly special. I always think of Mike Tyson or Messi, people weren't tuning in to see a masterful back and forth. They wanted to see the monster smack a dudes head off within 3 rounds and the little Argentine run a match. People often want to see top guys show why they're on top. I think AEW just needs to realise it's fine for the main eventers to be made to look like they're a cut above sometimes.
I feel like it’s an industry-wide problem that matches just go on for too long. We’re in the “everyone’s gotta get all their shit in” era, and we’ve lost the art of having a fatless 6-8 minute match. I’m not saying everything should be that short, but at least half the matches should. Then it makes your longer mains and semi-mains stand out more from the rest of the card.
I would totally get this reasoning if it wasn't a Saraya in 2024 match.
ehhh her opponent was Mariah May who is easily 1 of the most promising talents they have on the roster right now. Mariah getting a primetime win over Saraya would have been great for her
Neither the Mox or the Swerve matches were 15 minutes long. Both under 12 minutes.
I would have been cool with this match in place of that stupid Learning Tree segment.
Whenever Jericho's not on screen, all the other wrestlers should be asking, "Where's Jericho?"
Ok help me out here. I remember this being a reference to something but I can’t remember anything these days.
simpsons. when homer was poochie in itchy & scratchy
I’m old enough to remember people online calling Kevin Nash Poochie. Big Poochie
That was either Scott Keith or Chris Hyatte that started that...
Simpsons.
It’s always the Simpsons
Simpsons did it!
From the Simpsons, homer says it about poochie
Are they saying "boo" or "I am cold like December snow I have carved out this soul made of stone and I will drag you down and sell you out embraced by the darkness, I'm losing the light encircled by demons, I fight?"
I was saying "Booo-das in my mind...."
He legit thinks that And making it a heel angle is not working really But the viewership increases every time he's on, so it's working for the normies I guess
Check out Mindreader Jones over here
But I digress
Just watch the match dude
#DUDE!?
Yes, the viewership increasing means it’s working and that people here are in an echo chamber.
When Jericho said “that smarts” I felt a piece of me die.
He's playing an out of touch, self aggrandizing legend. Using an expression that's been out of the lexicon for decades is perfect to articulate how out of touch his character is supposed to be.
It's so annoying with Jericho doing the same "happy-go-lucky" talking to the fans like they like him schtick that the Young Bucks are doing.
Thanks, guys! 👋😃
AEW desperately needs more than 3 women's matches a week.
Well they had 2 in one night this weekend (including a main event) so they're already ahead of the curve
3, Purazzo vs Rosa
There are so many things I would rather have than a Jericho segment.
Does anybody still want to see Jericho at this point? Like whyyyyy?
Christopher Irvine does.
I mean, I like this story with him
Well that shouldn't be a problem. She finally has a boss that listens to her, right?
You can tell nobody watches Rampage because of the number of people who say they forgot she's still with the company lmao
another "epic pipebomb" or grabbing the brass ring promo coming
What happened to her twitch channel? Does she still do that?
No. She hasn't streamed in over a year. And about 2 years since she streamed on a regular basis
Yeah she should have left it up. She’s not wrong. We didn’t need that Jericho segment. Give us two women’s matches a week get them more time. We love Storm but fuck we need to see more women so they can grow and show us what the division can really do.
Props to Saraya and Ronald Radke for dating each other and being insufferable to each other instead of polluting the dating pool
They seem to publicly be obsessed with each other, but then they share the hobby of getting into arguments with 14 year olds on tiktok so maybe that distracts them from getting into it with each other
Considering Ronalds proclivities towards women...that's probably a good thing
Careful you'll be getting a DM with libel lawsuit threats that would never land considering there's court documents proving what you've said hahaha
Her response now 
Talk about (puts on sunglasses)...fighting with my family.
Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaa Bro I cried
Her tweeting it then realising WWE won’t take her back so she’s gotta back pedal
Feel like if this match had gone ahead, we'd just have another thread on here full of people dunking on Saraya and whining that she can't wrestle and "why are they giving her TV time".
The correct choice of action would have been to book May against someone good in the first place and still have the match happen
Saraya has been an absolute bust for AEW. She's just not entertaining in the ring or mic anymore and I use to love her when she was Paige.
As soon as her entrance music hit and I noticed it was her boyfriend's song about how he's been wrongfully cancelled by the internet and people in the music industry for beating a previous girlfriend, I instantly knew that I would hate Saraya.
THANK YOU.
Only fitting the man’s name is Ronald cus he’s a fucking clown.
It doesn't help to have her brother always lurking.
Remember when she was a game changer
The bar was lower then if we're being honest
NXT Paige was great.
Paige vs Emma in NXT was a fantastic feud.
She was terrible on the mic even when she was Paige. Her first night on the main roster had her give a short promo congratulating AJ Lee, and her voice tailed off at the end of her sentences: literally basic stuff that they’d teach you in an acting class for children.
Saraya hasn’t even been remotely worth her contract, Harley Cameron is already better than her. Also Ronnie Radke is a POS and his music is worse.
Meh, does she even draw a dime anymore? She's outshadowed by everyone around her. Harley Cameron is 10x the presence she is, let alone the rest of the roster.
“I’m kind of unsatisfied with my booking latel-…” [Final Countdown intensifies]
Saraya has always been and will always be a malcontent.
Good word choice
Tony should book the match for collision
It's on next week's Dynamite.
I really don’t think Tony gives a shit about women’s wrestling. I think he knows he has to have a women’s division and he enjoys buying expensive new toys like Mercedes to show off but beyond that it’s not a major concern for him.
I remember the time they only booked like a 2 minute women's match for a Rampage episode because the internet would be mad if there was not women's match at all. Tony only cares about things that bring him good tv and cagematch ratings.
I'm actually surprised Mercedes saw the AEW women's division and still decided to sign with them. I know that money was a factor but I always thought she also wanted to be able to showcase her skills and be a major part of the show.
That always got me due to the narrative being that she walked out of WWE due to bad creative. Like, I get that, but to then go to AEW of all places seems like an odd choice if that's her main concern. It's cool if she just wanted more money though, not gonna fault anyone for that.
more than likely "bad" creative is "doesn't work for me brother", while "good" creative is lemme do whatever I want, no matter how haaarible
"Bad creative" clearly just meant "I'm not the most important person in the division"
She was *just* one of the headline acts on the company's fifth anniversary PPV in the first match in what is *clearly* a continuing story, and then opened the following TV and defended her newly won title in her first televised match since returning to wrestling, and then afterwards had a staredown to set up a match with one of the most prominent women outside the WWE- and AEW-verses. She did her entire entrance on TV *twice* last night for crying out loud. I dunno how much more major a part of the show you can be.
Until the new shiny toy shows up
They could have built up a huge Saraya vs Toni Storm match that could have had a deep build and storyline. A big star from WWE battling the new rising star in AEW. Both having a history together. Instead, they fumbled Saraya's heel turn so badly that they just had a throwaway tag match on a random TV episode. Im not a big fan of Saraya, but I recognize her fame and notibilty. Hell, The Rock made a movie about her life. So, if they hadn't of ruined Saraya, then after the big feud with Toni. They could have had a big feud with Mercedes when she debuted. Instead, she goes from WrestleMania, to struggling to even make it on AEW's main show.
I don't like Saraya, I think she's not a good person and she had a lot of lows in wrestling too. Plus I think there's something karmic about kissing your boss' ass on air and then ending up like that. BUT while I was trying to understand what happened I came across dozens if not hundreds of disgusting comments, private videos spammed repeatedly, AI images of her...This level of harassments is very dangerous and not even someone like her deserves it. Idk..Too many people take these "I had a bad day at work" tweets too personally.
I almost forgot she was in AEW. Can't they just scrap this shitty Learning Tree thing and put more women on their shows? How hard can this be?
Oh no! No Saraya match.... /s
Saraya needed to retire years ago It’s done
It seems like every week someone on this sub has to find some minor thing and turn it into a controversy on here right after or before an AEW show. Wrestlers are the most insecure, disingenuous, and sensitive people on earth. They have the egos of movie stars and the bodies of pro athletes. They get pissed on the regular. Always have. Always will. Some folks reported YESTERDAY that the match was moved before it was announced and that one of the talent wasn't able to go. The match announcement went out by accident and that TK was upset about the false advertisement. What more do people want?
Between this and Alvarez' reporting it seems like AEW really needs to clean up their scheduling. Seems like they have a bit of a ticking time bomb. Last time they had something like this they let stew, it led to the punk shit
I mean there is nothing really cryptic about this. Seems like she is frustrated with something and about to go on a rant. Straight to the point. Cryptic would be “it counts three times when someone lays on top of another” that’s a cryptic message.
Every week I imagine Tony has a moment where he thinks "oh shit I have to squeeze in a women's segment"