Put it up on youtube, or even post it to something like Imgur and link it.
I was thinking about the NXT invasion last night and I loved it. I just re-read Death of WCW and when they talked about the NWO invasion the book talked about how it was the rare instance in North American Wrestling that an invasion was booked strong.
I mean if you look through history invasions are rarely done well.
When Jim Crockett productions bought UWF, the Jim Crockett guys showed up on a UWF show and basically kicked the crap out of all of the UWF guys and took all of the belts, but they killed the interest in the invasion right away by making the UWF guys look like doofuses.
When WCW died and they did the invasion of WWF, they bought in the lower mid card guys from WCW and had them attack midcard guys, but the top guys destroyed the WCW guys, it got so bad that WWF decided to make Angle and SCSA turn heel on WWF, and then made the whole thing another McMahon feud and made the WCW guys look like doofuses. You need to look no further then the DDP creepy stalker angle where he got destroyed by the Undertaker and then by Undertakers wife at the time.
NWO worked because they had two guys come in in Hall and Nash and booked them incredibly strong, and then did the heel turn with Hogan. They then had them dominate but always gave hope at the start that someone would make the NWO pay, ie Sting.
The problem with the NWO is that day never really came, when the eventual match between Sting and Hogan happen, they made Sting look like, you guessed it a dofus, and then they kept adding NWO members and watered down the actual WCW guys.
Last night they booked NXT as incredibly strong. They came in and caused chaos and at the end of the night Adam Cole (Baby) went over one of the best workers in the business clean. They had Shayna come in and destroy Banks and Bayley. Even the Rhea Nox team beat a decent mid card team in Fire and Desire.
In other words NXT came in and showed that they might be better and more interesting workers then the stale main roster workers. It was brilliant.
So what could go wrong.
1) Bookers are notorious for a lack of patience when it comes down to ratings issues. Its too tempting to have the main roster players go in and retaliate and make the NXT workers look like Dofuses. To make this an AHL versus NHL thing. Instead they should literally have a Main Roster invasion of NXT be completely rebuffed. Now I don't know if Fox or USA will allow that to happen because it makes their product look weird and almost like a sacrifice to beat AEW.
2) Having Michael's and HHH as the figureheads of the invasion. Why? Because both Michaels and HHH are icons of the main roster guys and the establishment and frankly the McMahons. Frankly this could come down to HHH going over on himself again. And another HHH versus McMahons thing. Instead the smart move would have had at the end of the show when HHH starts to speak Regal comes out and the NXT guys destroy HHH and Michael's and now we have a true anti-establishment versus the stale old. which Michaels and his buddy are really linked to.
Just my two cents.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
JANUARY 4:
-IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi
-IWGP Intercontinental Champion Jay White vs. Tetsuya Naito
-IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi
-Jushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Sasuki & Tiger Mask vs. Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Ohtani, Tatsuhiro Takaiwa & Ryusuke Taguchi
JANUARY 5:
-IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Title: Okada/Ibushi winner vs. White/Naito
-Okada/Ibushi loser vs. White/Naito loser
-Chris Jericho vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
-Jushin Thunder Liger's retirement match
-IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori vs. Sho & Yoh
Feels like that has to be Okada vs Naito on the 5th in the Heavyweight vs IC Title Match. Those are the two guys they have pretty much built up for that spot through their whole careers.
I would go with Ibushi actually winning against Okada (more prolific win they are comfortable having since Ibushi is fully signed), and then Naito giving him a run for his money on the 2nd night but Ibushi retaining. Naito takes the belt at New Beginning.
Good promo by Cody, but I think that’s a stupid stipulation. Just stay away from the whole “Authority” type of thing or acknowledging management or booking at all.
It was a very good promo, though I liked Jericho's video package more.
I've said from the start that if you're on the booking committee so to speak, you should not be an active wrestler, its too tempting to put yourself and your friends at the top of the card. It kind of feels like he's following his old man's booking example from Florida or even WCW without the rail road spike.
The show ends with a chaotic brawl, While AEW is strong, some of their booking is really formulaic.
While the ratings have been dropping on all the wrestling shows, probably a side effect of of MLB, it feels like we're hitting one of those low cycles in NA Wrestling.
While AEW has been ok to good, I still think that NXT in terms of booking, and match quality has been the better product.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Yeah I think AEW has the benefit of being something different but as you said overall it’s very formulaic. Think most of their shows have ended with a big brawl at the end.
They need to keep changing it up or it will get stale quickly.
Yeah I think AEW has the benefit of being something different but as you said overall it’s very formulaic. Think most of their shows have ended with a big brawl at the end.
They need to keep changing it up or it will get stale quickly.
It just feels like the stuff that I watched in the early 90's especially with WCW.
Its ok to end a show without all hell breaking loose, just a clean finish with the winner standing over the loser.
I'm just hoping that the passing the torch moment isn't Jericho passing the torch to Rhodes.
To be honest the minute that you have an in character authority figure, or a back stage mover and shaker booked into matches I cringe.
I mean honestly NXT had the brawls but it made sense that they're doing war games.
I remember with WCW they eventually burned out the audience with all the over booking, and then they started treating the belts like movie props and devalued the belt.
Its like having a show that's all gimmick matches, the audience might start hot, but eventually its like what else.
Right now AEW feels like the Hardy Boys of booking, there's just not a lot of psychology to what they're doing. The in ring stuff is top notch, their mid card roster is very strong.
But sometimes less is more.
I watched NXT last week and it was such a brilliant show. Then Smackdown was booked brilliantly with the invasion.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
I don't think the WCW comparisons are fair at the moment because Cody is whitehot right now and probably the most over baby face in the company, and that's been entirely organic. It's not a situation like Nash and Hogan booking themselves at the top of the card when they were no longer over with the fans.
Yeah I don't have a problem with Cody the booker being Cody the active wrestler. When things start to go south then you can easily identify the Elite as being the problem because of their influence in booking, but so far they haven't booked themselves like Hogan or Nash. However I also don't like the stipulation of not wrestling for the AEW title again - that is too phony given constant turnover in wrestling storylines.
The brawling needs to subside, although last night's brawling involved all of them and everyone started fighting with everyone. I actually thought this was good because it reminds us that new feuds are coming after Full Gear, which opens the floor up to new ideas.
One thing is very clear though: Jericho / Cody / Omega / Moxley are the top four dudes in AEW, and the show should be pivotal around them.
That AEW ending... what a convoluted mess of an ending
Consider all the run ins during that main event:
-PAC low blows Hangman
-Cody comes in to save the inner circle mauling
-MJF hits both Jericho and Hager with a chair and throws Jericho in the ring
-Moxley jumps the rail with a barbed wire bat
-Santana and Ortiz, for no apparent reason, interrupts the Moxley/Omega face off
-Young bucks rushes in to join the melee too
At this point, they may as well have Britt Baker and Riho with their opposites join in the fight too
I get they want to try to promote their feuds before Full gear, but all of them? Ridiculous.
Should’ve just ended it with Moxley low blowing Omega, loss for the faces, inner circle mauling and Cody with the cross Rhodes as the inner circle back away up the ramp carrying away Jericho
I gave AEW a shot but it just didn't grab me like it has others. WWE has it's issues but it's kind of like The Walking Dead for me. It's not what it once was but it's not bad enough to make me want to stop watching either.
