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Nuts Redeemed: AEW in Fall 2021

King Kamala

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After one of if not the most successful non WWE PPVS of the last two decades last night, I can definitively say PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING IS BACK*! AEW will try and capitalize on their momentum with a big week of shows. Minoru Suzuki (he showed up last night too) Vs Jon Moxley and Malakai Black Vs Dustin Rhodes on Wednesday and Andrade Vs PAC on Friday. Join us as we discuss the internet's favorite wrestling promotion as it enters its third year of existence.








*at least until the next assy episode of Dynamite
 

909

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Danielson just was in the main event of WM. Nobody has ever jumped after that.

Cole jumping literally kills their third tour. Is it bigger? I dunno, I don’t think so. Bryan is a bigger star than the Outsiders were, Cole is not. Punk is a bigger star in the wrestling business than almost anyone.

Still though wrestling hasn’t felt this alive since the Outsiders jumped. Regardless of how it turns out I won’t forget that.
 

HarleyQuinn

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Danielson just was in the main event of WM. Nobody has ever jumped after that.

Cole jumping literally kills their third tour. Is it bigger? I dunno, I don’t think so. Bryan is a bigger star than the Outsiders were, Cole is not. Punk is a bigger star in the wrestling business than almost anyone.

Still though wrestling hasn’t felt this alive since the Outsiders jumped. Regardless of how it turns out I won’t forget that.
AEW is also perfectly situated with shows on Wednesday & Friday so they aren't like the WWE in that every Monday will be competing against the NFL. They can also build instant momentum with fans turning around on Wednesday to go, "Holy shit that show was amazing. I gotta watch/DVR the Friday show too."
 
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King Kamala

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TNA is also perfectly situated with shows on Wednesday & Friday so they aren't like the WWE in that every Monday will be competing against the NFL. They can also build instant momentum with fans turning around on Wednesday to go, "Holy shit that show was amazing. I gotta watch/DVR the Friday show too."
Jeff Jarrett punches hole through boater hat.
 

Valeyard

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The eventual Monday night edition of Dynamite/Clash of the Champions is going to be so cool.
 

Valeyard

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He just needs to get the intro or something so they can make a really lame mashup with "Valkyries." That garbage the other night was just very well below standard for AEW at this point.
 

King Kamala

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Idk if anyone caught Daniel Bryan's post PPV media scrum or read a recap of it (like me) but it was perfect PR for AEW and perfect way to shut up "AEW just signs bitter ex WWE guys" stans. Talked about how he loved his time in WWE and how great of a workplace they were but how AEW is the place to work for right now. Cole, more or less, said same thing too.

As awesome as Punk signing was, I think it's more important that AEW is getting WWE guys in the midst of being pushed as huge stars to jump ship. Just look at how happy all of the recent debuting stars have been. This paradigm shift (hi Mox) couldn't be happening at a better time for AEW and a worse time for WWE.
 
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Valeyard

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I either said it in here or in chat, can't remember, but I'll say it again. I knew AEW was a big deal and important from the start, but I always had trouble really accepting it. I didn't think it was going to be gigantic and didn't take it as seriously, even with the numbers. It had too much of the things I like in equal measure to the things I fucking hate, and felt like an indie with a sweet TV deal, and it always felt like it was missing something to really feel legit. I knew they were real, but I thought it was more a lol bubble real, if that makes any sense at all.

These signings totally changed that stupid feeling. Not that Mox or Jericho or Sting weren't huge, but they simply weren't the likes of Punk or Bryan. I wasn't a fan of the Elite guys. Now they not only have the biggest stars available but the deepest roster of name talent, guys who can fit anywhere on the card without a second thought, whose just existence elevates everything. It's not a bubble anymore; people I personally know who weren't fans or lapsed fans went CRAZY when Punk came back. They're crazier now for Bryan. I haven't felt a buzz like this in 20 years.

tl;dr any of the stupid doubts I ever had, wrong or right, about AEW are gone and holy shit this is something special.
 

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The only thing they're missing, and I don't see any way to sugarcoat my words, is that WWE has signed most of the top black talent in wrestling and AEW is unable to sign them. I feel like a certain few signings could push them all the way over the top. The promotion is very white, but that's what they've been able to sign. You can't sign what's not available to sign. Still it's pretty obvious that they really need someone like Lashley and Kofi even though they now have a much better roster. I mean I would go so far as to say much better.
 

Hawk 34

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The only thing they're missing, and I don't see any way to sugarcoat my words, is that WWE has signed most of the top black talent in wrestling and AEW is unable to sign them. I feel like a certain few signings could push them all the way over the top. The promotion is very white, but that's what they've been able to sign. You can't sign what's not available to sign. Still it's pretty obvious that they really need someone like Lashley and Kofi even though they now have a much better roster. I mean I would go so far as to say much better.
All that can be solved with just one signing
1631045263057.jpeg
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

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I'm still in "wait and see" territory. Danielson is the first guy they've signed that legitimately got a reaction out of me. CM Punk never brought it out of me like that, and neither did any of those other guys: like, I never followed Tommy End's indie career, so I didn't understand why people were so pressed about how he was used as Aleister Black, and I understand even less why people are excited about what he might do as Malakai Black. Same goes for Adam Cole... Frankly, I got more excited to see FTR show up in AEW.

I feel like I'm in the same boat as I was two years ago: I can clearly see that there are some things that AEW is doing objectively better than WWE, but most of those things aren't things that I like about wrasslin', anyway. Like, just to use one example as a for-instance, AEW is unquestionably better at putting on death matches than WWE but, to quote Portia Perez, "I like my death matches like I like my coffee. I don't like coffee." So... what am I even supposed to do with that?
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

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The only thing they're missing, and I don't see any way to sugarcoat my words, is that WWE has signed most of the top black talent in wrestling and AEW is unable to sign them. I feel like a certain few signings could push them all the way over the top. The promotion is very white, but that's what they've been able to sign. You can't sign what's not available to sign. Still it's pretty obvious that they really need someone like Lashley and Kofi even though they now have a much better roster. I mean I would go so far as to say much better.

Well, I wasn't going to single out Black wrestlers, specifically, but this is also a big part of it, for me. I have arrived at a point of my wrasslin' fandom where I tend to evaluate a promotion primarily on three factors:
  • How strong is your tag team division?
  • How strong is your women's division?
  • How are you utilizing your non-white wrestlers?
For me, and y'all's mileage may vary, AEW only has the edge in one out of three of those things.
 

Valeyard

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The only thing they're missing, and I don't see any way to sugarcoat my words, is that WWE has signed most of the top black talent in wrestling and AEW is unable to sign them. I feel like a certain few signings could push them all the way over the top. The promotion is very white, but that's what they've been able to sign. You can't sign what's not available to sign. Still it's pretty obvious that they really need someone like Lashley and Kofi even though they now have a much better roster. I mean I would go so far as to say much better.
Is there anyone you know of who could fill that kind of spot that isn't locked up to WWE? Easy answer for me is to straight swipe someone like Moose but there's gotta be other names or potential names elsewhere. It took Kofi and Lashley a while to hit the level they're at and I just am ignorant of the indies.

Liking this Shane Taylor guy, though.
 

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Well, I wasn't going to single out Black wrestlers, specifically, but this is also a big part of it, for me. I have arrived at a point of my wrasslin' fandom where I tend to evaluate a promotion primarily on three factors:
  • How strong is your tag team division?
  • How strong is your women's division?
  • How are you utilizing your non-white wrestlers?
For me, and y'all's mileage may vary, AEW only has the edge in one out of three of those things.

I think they do well at the first and the third one, but like I said. Hard to push what they don't have. They have done a good job of pushing non-white wrestlers, but not black ones. The black wrestlers they do have are very green and need development. Jade, Private Party, and the Acclaimed need more time to get better. I would say they need to push Powerhouse Hobbs better but he just got a big win and it seems like they're going to.

Is there anyone you know of who could fill that kind of spot that isn't locked up to WWE? Easy answer for me is to straight swipe someone like Moose but there's gotta be other names or potential names elsewhere. It took Kofi and Lashley a while to hit the level they're at and I just am ignorant of the indies.

Liking this Shane Taylor guy, though.

Jon Gresham and Chris Bey are locked into deals with other companies, but I think Gresham is also too small for the general public to take seriously. WWE has completely destroyed the other companies on this subject. That being said if AJ Gray and Myron Reed have a good performance at this upcoming PWG show someone will sign them instantly because that's what usually happens when someone does well there. I don't know if MLW's contracts stick or not.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

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Not gonna lie, the first time I ever saw Gresham, he was standing next to his wife (then-girlfriend) Jordynne Grace, with nothing in the background to give me a sense of scale. And, as I didn't yet know how tall Jordynne was, I just assumed that she was unusually tall for a woman... Then, I saw her standing next to other women wrestlers, and I was like, "Eh... I don't think that Gresham is ever going to get signed to a major promotion."

Dude can wrestle his ass off, though. He's like a fire hydrant, who can bust out suplexes.
 

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Not gonna lie, the first time I ever saw Gresham, he was standing next to his wife (then-girlfriend) Jordynne Grace, with nothing in the background to give me a sense of scale. And, as I didn't yet know how tall Jordynne was, I just assumed that she was unusually tall for a woman... Then, I saw her standing next to other women wrestlers, and I was like, "Eh... I don't think that Gresham is ever going to get signed to a major promotion."

Dude can wrestle his ass off, though. He's like a fire hydrant, who can bust out suplexes.

His height on Wikipedia is also worked, I've stood right next to him. I love the way he wrestles but he's like 5'1 or 5'2.
 

King Kamala

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Yeah. I feel like Impact and ROH use non-white talent better than either of the two big two. Yeah, Lashley is a champion but I kind of feel like portrayal of him dabbles in stereotypes quite a bit.

That's the driving reason why a lot of woke wrestling Twitter doesn't care for AEW. They have a handful of BIPOC roster members but they're mostly supplementary roles besides Lucha Bros and Nyla Rose. How quick did it take from Andrade to go from hot debut to just another guy? There are many more over riding factors as to why that happened than racism but Idk if racism is a non factor.
 

909

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Yeah. I feel like Impact and ROH use non-white talent better than either of the two big two. Yeah, Lashley is a champion but I kind of feel like portrayal of him dabbles in stereotypes quite a bit.

That's the driving reason why a lot of woke wrestling Twitter doesn't care for AEW. They have a handful of BIPOC roster members but they're mostly supplementary roles besides Lucha Bros and Nyla Rose. How quick did it take from Andrade to go from hot debut to just another guy? There are many more over riding factors as to why that happened than racism but Idk if racism is a non factor.

Andrade became just another guy because they're waiting on the right time to debut Ric Flair. I feel like Flair has probably been trying to get released from WWE for a while. It seems like someone wouldn't just bombard Vince with booking ideas overnight. Should they bring in Flair? I dunno but they're going to.
 

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Also, a list of guys they need to bring in if they can because the building would fucking melt if they did:

- Everyone from New Day even if separately
- El Generico
- Keith Lee
- Ricochet
- Cesaro
- Usos
- Roman (lol)

as far as women goes

- literally almost anyone WWE releases
 

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Have they announced Bryan for tomorrow night? Surely they have to try and capitalize on the ppv and get a monster number by having his debut promo tomorrow and not holding off a week.
 

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Oh boy. It never ends. Kevin Owens tweeted "almost there" and gave the Mount Rushmore coordinates (the former group name of him, the bucks and Cole).

Now word is his contract expires in 6 months:

 

King Kamala

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People convincing Omega he himself is actually funny is the kind of thing that kills the business.
Look I'm the only one here who was voted his state's best comedian by the readers of a barely reputable alternative weekly so I know comedy. Now that GCW is letting Ron Funches is wrestle, who knows what my opportunities will be in the biz if I kiss up to the right people?
 
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People convincing Omega he himself is actually funny is the kind of thing that kills the business.

I'm one of the last guys to defend that douchebag but now that he's a heel I don't think the things he does now are supposed to be funny. Like the Urkel shit. I think he's trying to annoy people as much as possible.
 
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