Gotta say, I think I'm fully invested in the Butcher and the Blade. They started slow and Allie/The Bunny held them down a bit, but their tag chemistry, unique look, and warpath pace in the ring all make for a tantalizing "must watch" match for me. Even during the match against the bucks and driving the pickup truck two weeks ago, they wore white - in contrast to when they're in the ring, and wear black. It's the little things like that that add dimension. Not to mention the Butcher is a straight up Teddy Roosevelt Hoss. Fun as hell to watch on his own.
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AEW needs to really stop with bringing in and signing wrestlers for shock value, Now they bring in Cameron (Worthless) and Ryder (Jobber guy with poor in ring skills).
That roster is getting super bloated and robbing good performers with on screen moments.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
He needs more TV time, and they should be positioning him as the guy and really the primary heel in the company.
I think the big problem for him is his in-ring stuff still needs work. That said, he's miles better than he was even a year ago in that department, so there's no reason to believe he can't get better. The dude is still only 24.
I don't blame him. He's probably made his money, accomplished making it to the top of the wrestling world (Wrestlemania), and won numerous titles. Now he also doesn't have to grind out that crazy WWE schedule, and is starting to build a good gaming following on Twitch. Plus he has Lana!
If the guy wants to ride out into the sunset, that's awesome. You don't often see wrestlers his age going down that route.
I think the big problem for him is his in-ring stuff still needs work. That said, he's miles better than he was even a year ago in that department, so there's no reason to believe he can't get better. The dude is still only 24.
I don't know if you'll agree with me, but he reminds me of Miz when Miz really started hitting his stride when he was relatively young. Miz has never been the best in ring worker, but he's improved over time. The big complaint with Miz's style is its pretty safe, which isn't a bad thing, but in this day it gets criticized, but Miz's mic work really improved over time as they and he figured out his personality.
Maybe MJF needs that unleashed moment, like Miz had against Daniel.
Now the funny thing is that everyone for a long time believed that this was a shoot, it wasn't as those two are pretty close.
Also Miz was exceptional when they lampooned John Cena.
I've really become a fan over the years of Miz.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
I don't blame him. He's probably made his money, accomplished making it to the top of the wrestling world (Wrestlemania), and won numerous titles. Now he also doesn't have to grind out that crazy WWE schedule, and is starting to build a good gaming following on Twitch. Plus he has Lana!
If the guy wants to ride out into the sunset, that's awesome. You don't often see wrestlers his age going down that route.
Next guy to do it? My money is on Darby Allin.
I think its great when anyone gets out of the business with their health and a plan and isn't some 60 year old stumbling around the ring desparately trying to collect one last pay check.
Good for Rusev.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
I don't know if you'll agree with me, but he reminds me of Miz when Miz really started hitting his stride when he was relatively young. Miz has never been the best in ring worker, but he's improved over time. The big complaint with Miz's style is its pretty safe, which isn't a bad thing, but in this day it gets criticized, but Miz's mic work really improved over time as they and he figured out his personality.
I think there are similarities between the two, but MJF is already a better worker than Miz has ever been. His match with Jungle Boy at Double or Nothing was pretty damn good.
I can't remember who it was, but someone once said that the best heels are the ones whose grievances contain some kernel of truth that the audience can empathize with, and I think MJF has done a great job of exemplifying that so far in AEW. Everything he ranted about last night had some merit to it. He's also been booked pretty much perfectly since the get go.
That a heel has to believe that his actions are justifiable and that he believes he's in the right. A Hell that's a Heel because he's a heel doesn't work this day and age. It used to be easy in the land of outrageous characters that came from the darkest recesses of your mind (Zodiac) or the mute savage killers (Kamala). Or Vader who would just beat you up and didn't care.
But the good heels can portray being wronged or shoved to the side or held back as reasons for becoming ruthless (Michaels, Hart's heel turn).
I was watching Agents of Shield and up to this point he key villain has talked about his main reason of being bringing anarchy, it was a flat one dimensional villain concept. But in the last article he explained that the people that were making the rules in the name of order were under serving of being in that position, and that the concept of order was fundementally unfair and picked winners and losers, and anarchy was the only fair system. And with that explanation he went from two dimensional to three dimensional.
Lets be honest, John Wick should be a villain, a highly trained and somewhat remorseless killer who worked for the bad guys. But give him a dog, kill it and now everything works and he becomes sympathetic.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
IMO Randy Orton has always been able to successfully bring all the elements of a natural heel. His look, scowl, "I don't care" attitude and brooding promos really frame him as an untrustworthy snake. He's also that dude bro you love to hate because he's successful, made lots of money, and lifts his chin at you if you disagree.
MJF is the future of AEW - his promo skills are incredible for his age, he's engaging, and he is must-watch TV. I think him, Sammy Guevara, and Darby Allin are the future of AEW and it's not even close. They hit that young demo, are all solid in their presentation, and don't have that WWE rub (Allin came close with Evolve but that's it).
Anyone else they add is just peripheral mid-card talent. Not sure why they added Matt Cardona last night, he just muddies up the mid-card even more.
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AEW would benefit from not bringing in so many guys - just bring in select guys that can make an impact, even if just temporarily. Repair the relationship with NJPW, and get Okada in there doing another program with Omega - get that feud on North American TV, stat. Grow that NJPW partnership if possible; THAT'S where the value is for companies like these. Give wrestling fans a better option - actually good wrestling with top guys that can go.
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Randy Orton is the probably most natural heel that's ever existed, he doesn't do well as a face. Even he knows it, because deep down and he even admits it, he doesn't like the fans very much.
The only two other natural heels that I can think of are Jake Roberts and Dynamite Kid. Dynamite was a natural heel because he was filled with a lot of anger and hate and defensiveness from his hard life and he didn't like anyone. Its easy to be a heel, and when he was a face he became bland. Jake was a natural heel because there was always a sneakiness to him and he was always able to play the smartest guy in the room. As a face he just didn't work.
I agree with you on MJJF and Darby and Guevara, Guevara at this point could be amazing in a heel capacity just because there are a lot of questions about him being allowed back. MJF is a great mike worker an improving but I'm going to say mediocre ring worker, but that works. I would just like to see some rounding out on the edges with him.
I'm going to say, he's working too hard on being a heel and sometimes it feels like he's winking to the audience the whole time and silently saying "I'm a heel". I don't know if that makes sense, but I think you'll get me.
AEW is bringing in too many people, especially ones with WWE on their resume. Look I like Ryder, or Cardona, I think he's a great guy, but I don't have any interest in him as a wrestler, he's a lower mid card guy at best, so why bring him in. Why bring in Cameron? Why are they bringing in new people every week to feed to Cody, it burns out your audience when you're trying to do these debuts over and over again just to feed your top guy.
I'm still of the mind set that the people who are booking your cards or writing your shows or whatever should never be active wrestlers. We have 3 guys that are executives that are basically cleaning house, just form a heel group called the executive and go with it.
Kenny Omega, just doesn't work here, he's been my biggest disappointment, he's just not that interesting. I honestly expected far more from Moxley in terms of creating a character, that's why he was upset at WWE because they were holding him back. But all I'm seeing is Dean Ambrose with the dial turned up, and I'm losing interesting in him.
But the mid card is good, in AEW its really good and they can build that group into stars. I think the upper card is just a mess, they have too many people in the locker room that are a mess. I think the woman's division is improving, but its not terrific and Nyla's booking has been genuinely dumb.
If I have another criticism of AEW booking, they don't seem to understand the difference between helping a mid card guy get over and devaluing the top guy. They can't seem to separate it, so instead at times they make their upper card guys look like complete dufuses instead of getting a great midcarder look like a million bucks.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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AEW would benefit from not bringing in so many guys - just bring in select guys that can make an impact, even if just temporarily. Repair the relationship with NJPW, and get Okada in there doing another program with Omega - get that feud on North American TV, stat. Grow that NJPW partnership if possible; THAT'S where the value is for companies like these. Give wrestling fans a better option - actually good wrestling with top guys that can go.
To me, they should just stop bringing anyone in for a while, and actually maybe start dropping people and tightening up their card.
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My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
AEW is generally good in my books, but part of that may be because I can "pick and choose" my characters I want to pay attention to. That said, these characters don't always have a linear progression, nor a long-run end goal. For example, Evil Uno (among my favorite AEW characters) has been given limited TV time, but he did a great job of building up the "Chosen One" angle earlier this year. But once Brodie Lee showed up, they basically feud and interact with anyone - from Moxley to Ana Jay. I can't get a handle on the long-run booking here.
Kenny Omega is my favorite wrestler of this generation - but his trajectory in AEW is spotty at best. It's like Omega should have been champion by now, but WWE guys are getting in the way (Jericho, Moxley). Plus, bringing in guys like Brian Cage and Matt Cardona just muddies the water for who the upper card is (or at least should be).
AEW needs to par down their roster by about 10 wrestlers, and add a big name women's talent. Cameron is exactly who I DON'T want to see in that division. No thanks.
Kenny Omega, just doesn't work here, he's been my biggest disappointment, he's just not that interesting.
Kenny's booking has been absolutely baffling. The guy has a reputation for 45+ minute epic bouts with great storytelling and they have him mired in the tag division. Why?
I'm hoping his eventual feud with Hangman will be the start of a long singles run where he can get back to being "best bout machine" Kenny.
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