Wrestling Thread 7: FTR Baldhausen • Page 1361

Oh yeah... him... *shrugs*

 

What a concept

 

Fuck yeah!

 

The second biggest heel in the company gets sung to the ring every week so the face/heel dynamic means less than ever now.

 

I think in certain instances that works but there’s too much of it. If this was pure sport then fine but they’re supposed to be telling a story. Without having the distinction you don’t get something like the bloodline story or even MJF/Bryan

 

And to be fair WWE is having a similar thing with Brock/Lashley but I guess it doesn’t stick out as bad because of the spectacle of those guys going at it.

And Seth… acts like a heel but gets cheered and sung to the ring too.

 

Rollins is a full-fledged babyface now. Putting him with Riddle after the Cody attack was a mistake because half the crowd didn’t want to see that guy at all. That and the show was really hurting for a top babyface while Cody was out. He did have kind of a Jericho In AEW aura before then, though.

Lashley/Lesnar was a case of the fans making the decision because Brock was definitely the heel at the start, but everyone loves him and Lashley always got a lukewarm reaction as a babyface. Trying to play both sides by making him a face against certain opponents is where things got murky.

 

yup Rollins is 100% face

 

I guess the problem is I don’t watch the whole of the show for WWE but I do watch all of Dynamite so the flaws stand out more. I hate linking to Reddit but this sums it up for me

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCir...urce=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

 

Though I’m not as down on it as them

 

I remember saying it’s the golden era for “heels that get babyface reactions” but that was before MJF got the belt. Even Roman was getting cheered for awhile because they tried to make Logan Paul the babyface.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCir...urce=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Worth a read

 

It’s a great read and all really valid but people throw hissy fits online when AEW gets criticized lmao

 

I don’t watch much AEW. I watch the occasional PPV and Dynamites, but it just comes across as a glorified indie. Actually that’s an unfair description as they have a good presentation and the general look is on the same level as WWE. But there is that indie wrestling vibe to it that maybe holds it back a bit if that makes sense? A lot of indie wrestling gets by on good wrestling alone and if that’s what you like, it’s perfect. I’m jealous as sometimes I wish the wrestling alone was enough for me because there’s not much you can compare watching a great fucking wrestling match to.

But I grew up in the UK. There wasn’t a thriving indie scene over here that I could attach myself to, so I grew up with just the WWE on TV. And in WWE, the story is key. It may be a shit story a lot of the time, but it was still key. I think that’s why I switched from main roster to NXT around 2012 as it was something different and was getting a buzz from a few marquee signings that I didn’t know anything about, but felt I had to see what they were like and it turns out they had some decent stories too. And continued to until the late 2010s. When it all went to shit during the pandemic and people were released left, right and centre, I tried AEW for a while, but it never stuck with me. And boy did I try because they had all my favourite wrestlers haha.

TL;DR AEW would be good for me if they had 2010’s NXT style stories.

 

I think the inherent struggle with wrestling on this scale all year on a weekly live show a few years in, is that there will always be ebbs and flows in quality of storytelling, because that’s hard to maintain. The first three years of AEW were close to consistently great, and the peak storytelling of the first few years of AEW featured some of the best wrestling stories I’ve ever seen (particularly the Hangman/Elite saga, which I consider ongoing even if on the back burner atm, and the Punk/MJF feud). Ring of Honor and WWE and New Japan all have had periods of pretty to extremely good sustained creativity, and then periods of pretty to extremely bad creative.

Personally, while the storytelling in AEW is weaker lately than it has been during my active viewing, I still think we’re in the fallout of a pretty insane run of bad luck for AEW. They had to deal with injuries to Punk, Danielson, Cole, Christian Cage, Thunder Rosa, and I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting one or two more, leading into Punk’s tantrum after All Out and the subsequent suspensions of the Elite and Punk. There was a creative vacuum, because a lot of the company’s most important and creatively interesting talent weren’t available. The Elite and Cole are still pretty freshly back, after all. I’m willing to give AEW the benefit of the doubt even as I disagree with or don’t like certain decisions and stories because I’m confident they’ll hit their stride again. I still think MJF’s title run is salvageable; I’m curious what his character’s takeaway is going to be from matches like the Iron Man match against maybe the greatest wrestler of all-time. There’s still plenty of potential for great stories in AEW and I think too much is made of their creative struggles lately, the LA Dynamites have owned.

 

Everything has felt like a house show with TV production since the main storyline has been Danielson fighting a random indie wrestler that MJF assigns. I started watching during the Forbidden Door stuff and the vibe I got is that they expect you to know everybody & what the backstory is. They have a niche audience that they cater strongly to, which is fine because it seems likes it's enough to keep the lights on & attract a some fans who are jaded from WWE.

That and a lot of the big names they had plans for either got hurt, suspended or went back to WWE. I don't even think Kenny can work a regular schedule anymore because he's almost 40 and his body was being held together by duct tape when he came back in August. They had to stretch Moxley as thin as possible while their planned top heel came back as a babyface for two months because fans missed him & Punk turned himself. Some of the explanations for getting guys off TV has been very awkward, though. Like having Moxley chase off Regal, MJF writing him off and then having Regal cut a weird promo in a pretape didn't do anything but confuse fans.

 

My issue with MJF is this is like the third time they’ve done this exact story for his feuds - it’s boring

 

I set mid expectations for wrestling shows and i’m usually pretty content

it’s simple yall

lower your expectations

Wrestling booking is usually shit

 

The general rock solid product we get on national TV on a weekly basis was something us geeks were begging for in the 2010’s.

I’m watching fucking Danhausen and Orange Cassidy on national TV.

Things are good.

 

It’s good wrestling with aimless storytelling and that’s fine - we can just look back on the peak of AEW two years ago and just go ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and be content with mid

 

Never expect better because old jersey is content with it

 

If wrestling history is to be believed, it’s usually good to have storylines created by more people than just 1 billionaire

 

You’re missing the point.

i’m saying look at the history of wrestling, how often is there a super hot storyline and booking?

it ebbs and flows dude, alwayssssss always always.

so sure, find everything thats wrong at the moment, my point is there will ALWAYS BE STUFF WRONG.