AEW - All Elite Wrestling (*Spoilers for Latest Show*)

Headshot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121964146#Comment_121964146

You know I was starting to type that this is a surprising release but the more I think about it feels this was coming since I don't see Dasha on tv anymore and Renee & Lexy have been killing it of late.

Headshot

Jose the Assistant and The Boys are surprising to me.

Jose seems to have been a staple of the Lucha wrestlers

The Boys being eaten by bears doesn't help but jokes aside The Boys were part of the Dalton Castle/Johnny Tv story line in ROH

Lord TSC

Is this the first time we've had "cuts", as opposed to contracts ending? Presuming they are cuts, as reported.

Dalton without the Boys will be weird, cause it feels they were big parts of his act. Unless he plans to get new Boys or do a character shift.

Headshot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121964469#Comment_121964469

Dalton has rental boys (haha) at the moment and they arent good…

Agent Coulson

Always sad to see anyone lose their job espically when the company showed a history of letting talent see out contracts.

Dasha is the most surpring to me as I would have thought she was the only fulltime of those releases and she was a fine ring announcer.

I would have though these were on big per date deals not fulltime contracts so that actually surprises me.

Anthony Henry, The Boys, Stu Grayson, Gravity, Slim J, Parker Bordeaux, Jose The Assistant, Jora Johl.

ThePott

Where's all the vitriol and vinegar about a company making cuts gone?

Whenever WWE cut people there's uproar. Also think the timing was a bit deliberate. After the Punk interview and during RAW.

All that aside I think cuts were gonna be inevitable with the level of bloat in AEW. Honouring contracts they way they did before now was nice but when it comes to the business side, it's just money pit. It isn't good that wrestling contracts aren't worth the paper they're printed on but unfortunately seems like it's become the standard😔

Cherry_Cola

To be fair I don't think there's as much vitriol as well, nothing of value was really lost 😅. Especially when you compare to the caliber of releases WWE have done.

J. Marston

A who's who of who?

riffmongous

Im not even totally sure who some of those people are.

I'm sure most of them will just be happy they got paid for as long as they did while not contributing much.

Dasha is the exception there maybe, but I read on Reddit that she's made a lot of botches recently

Agent Coulson

PWInsider reporting TNA talent believe the MCMG's will land in AEW.

Punk_N_Wrestlin

Just finished watching the Cm Punk interview with Ariel, still crazy to think Jack Perry is in exile out in Japan while this lad is still out here falling apart and making money. I liked Punks run in Aew, thought his matches with Mjf were top tier, other than that could really take it or leave it. I do think it has definitely hurt the company and really only think theyre recovering in the last few months.

I can't believe as well they dropped the ball with Cody as much as they did considering coming into Wrestlemania hes arguably the biggest star in wrestling… Punk is punk and even Jade Cargil has been announced in the 6 woman. Dont know if people agree but watching the sheer scale of Wrestlemania every year really puts into context the differences in the companies. Hopeful AEW can continue on the hot streak, hoping they don't lose many more top talent but with that big a fanbase its really a big ask…

Back after a few weeks, apologies if people think this is a jab at Aew, was not meant that way, loving the company and hoping the hot streak continues. On to Dynasty! -Karl

Headshot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121967683#Comment_121967683

Cody in AEW was unbearable with the Cody Verse. AEW/Cody they never suited each other. Cody is a WWE man, always has been.

ThePott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121966547#Comment_121966547

I'm not saying that the caliber was high but my point is more that the moral grandstanding people do after cuts normally is often framed as, about how company with so much money could do this, or being sympathetic about people losing their jobs and that AEW honour contracts, etc, etc.

So people overlooking that now because it's lesser talents is a bit rich imo. I mean they cut somone who is currently injured, that's pretty low. I think people would be jumping at this if it were WWE is all.

At the end of the day, it's a product of Tony overhiring and was inevitable. At the same time AEW isn't answerable to shareholders so it lands solely on him.

Again, I'm not saying the cuts are vital talents or that cuts in wrestling are across the board bad. I'm saying that the same people who act as if cuts made are monstrous and evil are suddenly less angry when AEW does it. They're only showing their arse that they never cared about fired talent and instead saw it as a chance to throw the usual tribalist sh1te around.

Cherry_Cola

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970525#Comment_121970525

Oh yeah agreed for sure. It's **** when any company does it, just look at the wild tech layoffs in the last year even - companies all only care about one thing.

JP Liz V1

Cody Rhodes has commented on CM Punk's assessment of AEW:

"That's his assessment, it is not my assessment. It's always important for me to remind people that I am so proud of what me, Matt, Nick, Kenny, Tony, Bernie, Brandi, Dana and Chris, and I name all these people, because I was in all those meetings, as much as the internet will try and spin a narrative one way, if one of those people had not been at that start up level, the company would not have happened."I am so proud of what was creative, and what it does for the industry overall, for wrestlers and their wellbeing, and I have an unbelievable love for so many people in that locker room, including the Bucks and Kenny, who we bonded forever over this thing that we did."So it's not my assessment, in my time there, the infrastructure was just being built up, we were trying new things, it was a start up company, and I wish them nothing but the best."

ThePott

Dynamite was a bit of a mixed bag, but leaning more to good than bad.

Edge's promo just felt a bit unnecessary imo, came of as small time and desperate. Never a fan of these rah rah promos, same feeling when Rollins did one. The best response to Punk was putting on a great show, not this.

Battle of the Wills was excellent, Hobbs looked really good out of this. Even though I don't love this Callis Family story, feels like they're doing them turning on Ospreay in reverse having him fight with them first. Lance Archer vs Danielson was also great. I really wish they were more consistent with Archer, whenever they use him he delivers.

This is where things got a bit shaky. Jericho needs to be gone, the Hook storyline sucks and he is the least interesting he's ever been. Then we have Jay White vs Billy Gunn. It's been a year now, can we finally admit that AEW have fumbled Jay White? He's getting his ass beat by a 60 year old named Daddy Ass. Slimey heels cheating to win is fine but this is baffling. The man needs a serious rehab to look like a threat at this point.

The tag match between the Bucks and the Best Friend was great. The Bucks are doing their best work in AEW atm imo. Them teasing a kick to Sue was great, loved them throwing to break on commentary. Also shouting out Jack Perry (twice). Trent turning has been teased a while but didn't expect it there and then, was well done. Think Best Friends needed a shake up anyway.

Highlight of Thunder Rosa and Mariah May was Toni on commentary. I feel like Thunder isn't the same since she came back unforunately. Ending promo was great between Swerve and Joe. I'm conflicted, I love Joe as champ but think Swerve should be champion too. Kinda think he should actually lose this one and win at Double or Nothing.

Still confused about Mercedes, I'm assuming she isn't cleared, which in that case they should never have debuted her tbh. She gets over and feels like a big deal because of her in-ring work, not her promos. If we're waiting two more months to see her wrestle then I think by the time she gets in the ring she won't feel like as big a deal as she could have. I know the TNT and TBS are normally open challenges but her just getting to challenge for it based on nothing is odd too.

Lord TSC

https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1775935843120636046

Yikes.

JP Liz V1

I don't see how Mercedes Sasha is a big deal signing for AEW, will she draw in more ratings and merchandise sales, overrated imho

Toni is great especially with her gimmick

Pentecost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121975756#Comment_121975756

Boys will be boys.

ThePott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121975885#Comment_121975885

https://twitter.com/tatetwinbrent/status/1775952939200184825?t=Vd1TjqpLugiblFuSgHVQfw

One of the boys is already disputing this. Wonder if this is a case of miscommunication. Either way, commenting specifically publicly about why you cut people is always going to lead to problems.

Edit- Make that both Boys

https://twitter.com/TateTwinBrandon/status/1775953074617532755

Certainly seems like both are suggesting they have evidence to prove otherwise.

Lord TSC

one posted they were told it was budget cuts, not because of behaviour.

mind, it can be both. If you decide you need to trim some fat, going after the lads who were disciplinary issues is probably the easiest route to go…

Lord TSC

Tony also saying Henry was cut cause he got hurt on an Indy show, and will be brought back once he heals up.

CastorTroy

Phew. At least they survived the bear.

That whole thing with Willow felt weird like why were they facing away from the crowd when not long before we had Jericho and Hook out doing the same thing facing the crowd?

ThePott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121976239#Comment_121976239

Was thinking this too and forgot to mention it. Was an odd choice, it looked cool but I assumed they would pan around eventually. Maybe they were trying to show that there was a good turn out for the show, or quite literally show that "the crowd was behind Willow".

That's some former film student theory on my part🤣

ThePott

The Boys have released their statements and their 'receipts' that they didn't no-show.

At the very least it seems like miscommunication, pretty poorly handled by AEW's travel team. There is at least one instance where they were booked on a flight a few hours drive away which they were unhappy with as it wasn't usually the case (apparently it was done to save money) however it seems like they were also told they'd be given options for other flights and were never contacted back. Who knows if they ever actually called instead of just texted and emailed though.

Regardless of all this, Tony most definitely shouldn't have said what he did, cause he'll have to answer for this now too. Perhaps he was misinformed or someone from travel made a mistake and threw the Boys under the bus to cover themselves.

https://twitter.com/tatetwinbrandon/status/1776330031536488749?t=RzxOXYExXrBy1jDqWrEbUQ

Cherry_Cola

It's a sign of the lack of professionalism in the back with certain things they do too. It's almost like giving wrestlers office jobs doesn't work out if they don't have the requisite experience 😅. We've seen it with Daniels in talent relations, Matt's wife with the merch and I believe Bryce is one of the key travel organizers.

I worked in HR for a few years (hated it but it's what got me to the US!) and you never give a reason for letting someone go as it opens you up to all sorts of potential lawsuits and hassle. They really need to tighten up the HR, PR and talent relations side of things and the merch also - the selection at live events is abysmal.

Running an independent promotion myself has been interesting in how the travel arrangements are dealt with and how quickly the costs add up also. Some wrestlers are super picky with airlines, seat selections etc. and provide requirements as part of the deal so we have to factor all that into the cost of bringing them in and seeing if it's worth it. Knoxville is 2 hours 40 drive from Nashville so a little mad they couldn't make it work, seems like a miscommunication overall.

Petermc83

think Tony even doubled down on the accusations after the ROH ppv last night so he doesn’t even have the mindset to quash it and move on and stop with the slandering comments, whether it’s right or wrong, it’s just bad for business

Headshot

Damn that contract signing at the end of Dynamite has me absolutely pumped for Dynasty to see Swerve v Joe.

Pentecost

The Boys are a big bag of meh anyway imo but it does look like they were waiting on more specific details of the arrangements.

Cherry_Cola

Several reports now AEW will air the actual Wembley footage of the Punk incident on Dynamite. Wild week ahead haha.