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Originally Posted by LIP MAN
Last night had a ton of storylines happening. Was actually brilliant, even the Willow/Statlander feud came to an end. Have to appreciate the story in the story with Jack Perry/Luchaurus right before the BCC turn on Danielson. Someone on Reddit articulated it perfectly well:
I don’t think we are supposed to have “enjoyed” the main event.
There were some moments at the show which made plenty of people feel uncomfortable or otherwise displeased. On paper that sounds like a problem, but I really do feel like it was by design.
The company is no stranger to doing what it can to sell a gimmick or story to viewers. People complain about Jericho’s tv time, so naturally he gets a bunch of tv time. We aren’t *supposed* to like it.
It wasn’t enough that Mox turn on Danielson. We needed to be damaged by it. Real ‘Red Wedding’ ####.
It wasn’t enough that Page and Strickland have a match that AEW would make “unsanctioned.” They had to show exactly why. It has to *mean something* when they advertise these sorts of shows.
It wasn’t enough that they have a “blood feud” and hate each other, and they weren’t wrestling they were fighting. All of those things have to mean something.
Art is supposed to elicit emotion. Movies and TV have done it for decades, traditional arts like painting and books have been doing it much longer.
Sometimes the emotion we’re meant to feel isn’t a positive experience. Sometimes we are made to feel uncomfortable by design. We always talk about how wrestling makes us happy and excited and emotional, but rarely these days does an angle make us squirm.
We’re not supposed to have enjoyed watching our favorite babyface descend into madness. We’re not supposed to enjoy watching a beloved champion be brutalized. We’re not supposed to enjoy watching two former friends try to maim one another.
There’s going to be a lot of pushback to what AEW is doing, because the truth is that critical thought - especially with artistic mediums - is severely lacking these days…but from my perspective, AEW is doing something wrestling hasn’t done in a very long time: it’s making us believe.
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It's fine to want to do these things, but movies and art are fake and rehearsed under the careful watch and eye of stunt coordinators, leverage multiple takes and lots of post production effects.
Stuff like the needle or even the plastic bag on Danielson is fine because it's somewhat easy to rig and ensure that nothing too serious can happen. Make sure the bag is easily to rip, the needle isn't going to do any real serious damage. It's visually jarring but not risky (although IMO overused by AEW at this point).
My issue is more with stuff like the Cinder Block which did not look to be "worked" at all based on how it held up and didn't break or even crack at all.
The margin for error with that was so narrow.