AEW All Elite Wrestling #5: Road to Double or Nothing

[les Habs]

A couple of things. I love the chemistry between Penelope Ford and Kris Statlander. If there's a feud that has the potential to match Thunder Rosa/Britt Baker, this is the one. Ford and Statlander work quite well together. If AEW is smart, they're going to take advantage of that. Miro is looking like the menacing monster he was initially booked to be during his time in the e. He should continue his elevation and yes, he should be booked as a legitimate threat to Kenny. Forget about Darby. It's time to aim high with Miro. I love how they're building up The Factory. Nick Comorato reminds me of Bruiser Brody and if done right, he and Wardlow should be the standard bearers of how big men work. As well, Anthony Ogogo's booking looks really good so far. He's going to be a star if they do it right. Kudos to that. And finally, there should be no doubt that The Pinnacle and the Inner Circle are the best run factions in the company. Jericho and MJF need to be commended for their work so far and dare I say it, MJF looks like he can carry a company if given the opportunity.

As for the bad from AEW, I can't stand Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks and the Good Brothers. It feels so forced, like a Roman Reigns face push. It just doesn't work. If Kenny would have done things on his own, I could probably get behind that. But this whole thing is just a waste of time. It's kind of like Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page. I just don't get the pairing. There's no story line behind it. It's just really random and forced. I'm also tired of the 'superstar' gimmick of Cody coming in to save the day at the very last minute. And one last thing - why are they wasting Lance Archer? He should be a monster machine and they have no idea how to use him. He should be the big man that Wardlow and Comorato try to knock off, but they've blown it. It might be time to take him off TV and repackage him.

There's some good with AEW, no doubt. But some of it is really bad, like WCW towards the end bad. They're making mistakes that simply shouldn't be made. They really need someone on the booking committee who's going to be the final say and they need someone who can identify who to build around and who's going to be used to elevate those. I don't see that happening and it's starting to become a fustercluck. This might be the time to have Jim Ross come out from behind the commentary desk and let him run the booking of the company. He might be the one guy that could get them to straighten out story lines and help book better stories. Let him be the final say on everything.

I agree with some of this, some of it I don't, but either way you're clearing watching and you seem to find it interesting as do I. A few thoughts:

• Ford and Statlander, I haven't paid much attention. I do like that there's an overarching storyline for their "factions" if you will.
• Agree on Miro. I never watched much of him in WWE, but you're absolutely right that he's looking like a menacing monster and as I said a few weeks back he should be competing for a belt or at least in a major feud. Even if not with Kenny then for the TNT Championship, but this is also where I think another singles title might come in handy because you've got a lot of guys who could/should be competing.
• As for Darby, again get another title like a cruiserweight title (you have enough talent on the roster to have a division), I think he needs to pass on the belt soon. He's had some good matches on Dynamite, but he's just so damn small.
• Disagree on The Factory. Not a fan of the members or that it's being headed up by QT. On a short term basis it's OK as a thorn in Cody's side, but as I've been it's just a waste of Cody's time and talent. He should be feuding with a top star and/or competing for a belt. It's great that AEW is helping build up a lot of guys, but it shouldn't be and doesn't need to be at the expense of some of their established stars. Also not a fan of Comorato at all. Looks physically menacing, but can he speak? IMO he's a LONG way off from Bruiser Brody. Overall I find The Factory lacks charisma. And don't get me wrong here, while I like Cody and Dustin, I'm not a fan of The Nightmare Family either. Ogogo? We'll see. Need to see more of him.
• Wardlow apparently has potential, but he's so seldom in the ring. Is he hurt?
• Not sure about The Pinnacle or The Inner Circle. They're both OK and I think the feud is OK, but The Pinnacle's roster for me should be different. I think if you're going to come up with something really new in terms of the talent, then you don't add FTR. I think you go with The Acclaimed. Spears is meh too. Maybe that's where you add and Ethan Page or Scorpio Sky. Either way, subtly build it up.
• As for the best run factions, I think The Dark Order and possibly even Hardy Family Office (whatever it's called) are run well. The latter is a great concept though I think they could change up the members a bit. Either way I think they're more interesting as factions than either The Pinnacle or The Inner Circle.
• Yes, MJF is looking good. Not sure I see him carrying a company yet, but he should be a top guy that's for sure. Again, someone who should be competing for a title, but at least he's in a major feud.
• I don't see Kenny and Co as forced considering history, but it's sort of lacking sense as to how it plays into the current AEW. I mean you'd think they would be feuding with an Inner Circlesque faction, but instead they're up against Moxley and Kingston. Kind of a weird feud as you could eliminate Kingston and one of The Bucks/Good Brothers and still carry it off.
• Sky and Page pairing is one the hand interesting, but on the other it is also odd. I'm not a big fan myself.
• I'm not tired of "superstar" Cody because he's either not being used or not being booked near the top of the card. Again, he's being wasted big time.
• Archer is being wasted too. I too would like a repackaging because I don't like his look and think Jake shouldn't be involved. He doesn't need Jake.

I think AEW could trim some fat or at least give some of the talent more direction with storylines and feuds.

 

[BostonBob]

Rumors were swirling the last few weeks that AEW was bringing in Tessa Blanchard and Daga but pwinsider said that neither has been ( or is likely to be ) signed.

 

[CDJ]

Daga would be sweet. Can take it or leave it with Tessa tbh

 

[les Habs]

Another thing, what is the point of all these guys, especially the tag teams, taking on jobbers week on and week out on Dark? How about having them face one another and developing their gimmicks?

 

[CDJ]

Another thing, what is the point of all these guys, especially the tag teams, taking on jobbers week on and week out on Dark? How about having them face one another and developing their gimmicks?

Probably to pad records, they still kind of pretend like that matters

 

[BostonBob]

 

[les Habs]

I thought the March started well but progressively got worse and didn’t have enough turns. Sammy was good, Wardlow was meh, Santana and Ortiz don’t impress me much... Anyway, obvious Pinnacle was going to get the win.

 

[xtra]

Another thing, what is the point of all these guys, especially the tag teams, taking on jobbers week on and week out on Dark? How about having them face one another and developing their gimmicks?

While there are jobbers it’s also a developmental show. For Darknits about giving people a chance to show what they got before moving on look at caramato, Lee Johnson, Hobbs.

 

[les Habs]

While there are jobbers it’s also a developmental show. For Darknits about giving people a chance to show what they got before moving on look at caramato, Lee Johnson, Hobbs.

I understand that, but some of these guys are rarely on the “big” show. Last night’s tag match put some of them on, but I think for the most part they’re getting wasted to a degree.

 

[BostonBob]

Ouch.

 

[Megahab]

They need a better catchphrase.

 

[BostonBob]

from today's pwinsider.com:

Last night's AEW Blood and Guts match last night was live, but the remainder of the show was pre-taped. AEW chose to pre-tape the remainder of the show due to the logistics of setting up the two cages so it didn't eat into TV time. AEW offered refunds to fans who came believing they were getting a complete live broadcast.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

I thought the war games match was meh at best to be honest. All the blood felt forced, tons of botches and why just submit or surrender and no pins?

 

[Megahab]

I thought the war games match was meh at best to be honest. All the blood felt forced, tons of botches and why just submit or surrender and no pins?

Wasn't that how War Games originally worked?

It was a decent match but the cushion/crash pad being so visible ruined the ending.

 

[BostonBob]

I thought the war games match was meh at best to be honest. All the blood felt forced, tons of botches and why just submit or surrender and no pins?

Wasn't that how War Games originally worked?

Yes - originally called War Games - The Match Beyond back in 1987 the losing team had to either have a member submit, surrender or rendered unconscious by the other team. If I remember correctly there has only been one time ( at least on a PPV ) that a pinfall ended a War Games match and that was at Fall Brawl 98 in that screwy 3-team ( including 2 NWO teams ) War Games match where DDP pinned Stevie Ray.

 

[BostonBob]

Deadspin think Cody Rhodes should f**k off !!!!!

Cody Rhodes needs to f*** off more than anyone has ever f***** off in the history of f****** off


I don't know about Cody but if I never see Brandi Rhodes on my TV again I'll be very happy.

 

[JackSlater]

Deadspin think Cody Rhodes should f**k off !!!!!

Cody Rhodes needs to f*** off more than anyone has ever f***** off in the history of f****** off


I don't know about Cody but if I never see Brandi Rhodes on my TV again I'll be very happy.

Rhodes is very self-indulgent. The stuff making fun of Tri was always bad because it was so obvious that he simply is the AEW Tri, and his attempts to endlessly force Dusty into things were tiresome before AEW even existed. Yet... I still like him and I like what he brings to AEW. He just needs to not be mired in garbage feuds and work with someone with some talent. Give him something that's actually relevant to the general direction of AEW and things will be fine.

A lot of this ties in to what so many have said about AEW needing to have someone with a more firm hand in charge. It's definitely true but I don't blame Rhodes for that issue.

 

[les Habs]

Deadspin think Cody Rhodes should f**k off !!!!!

Cody Rhodes needs to f*** off more than anyone has ever f***** off in the history of f****** off


I don't know about Cody but if I never see Brandi Rhodes on my TV again I'll be very happy.

I think some of that piece is correct, but it’s also wrong. The issue with Cody, who isn’t on every week, is that he’s only in meaningless feuds that aren’t worth his or the fans’ time.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

Wasn't that how War Games originally worked?

It was a decent match but the cushion/crash pad being so visible ruined the ending.

Oh yea that was pretty bad. Looked like this
.

 

[sabremike]

Deadspin think Cody Rhodes should f**k off !!!!!

Cody Rhodes needs to f*** off more than anyone has ever f***** off in the history of f****** off


I don't know about Cody but if I never see Brandi Rhodes on my TV again I'll be very happy.

Thank you for the reminder of just what awful toxic garbage Deadspin is.

 

[BostonBob]

Thank you for the reminder of just what awful toxic garbage Deadspin is.

Based on some stuff I had read on some other sites I thought they had actually gotten better recently.

 

[eXile3]

Man, wrestling fans are hard to please. I thought the blood and guts match was awesome. Yes, they could have done better on the ending. Still really enjoyed the chaos.

 

[TD Charlie]

from today's pwinsider.com:

Last night's AEW Blood and Guts match last night was live, but the remainder of the show was pre-taped. AEW chose to pre-tape the remainder of the show due to the logistics of setting up the two cages so it didn't eat into TV time. AEW offered refunds to fans who came believing they were getting a complete live broadcast.

Yeah that’s pretty shitty. I normally just assume everything is recorded at this point, but for the bigger shows when they explicitly call out that it’s live, yeah i would still expect a normal length event.

if they needed time to set up then they should have given the paid attendance a couple dark matches after the show. Or, just set it up ahead of time and have 90 minutes of in ring action for the live audience only.

bottom line, there were better ways to handle it

 

[JackSlater]

I enjoyed seeing Yuji Nagata on TV again as it's been... nearly 25 years since I first saw him on WCW Saturday Night. Wasn't a great match by any stretch but a good use of him and Moxley given the NJPW connection. I enjoyed Cody's standard fare too.

 

[les Habs]

I was thinking they were going to put the belt on Miro. Thought that was a good match. Inner Circle will lose to Pinnacle and disband is my next thought.