AEW vs NXT

AEW were the ones claiming it’s going to be a “sports based alternative”. If they didn’t say it, it wouldn’t be used against them. They only said it because people were complaining about WWE not being serious enough and they thought they’d just say something to make the crowd happy even though they had not intention of following through. Once again, very disingenuous.

Their content is a lot closer to WWE main roster than people would like to admit and isn’t as serious of a show as NXT. People may not want it to be as serious as NXT and they may like the more variety show aspect of AEW and that’s fair enough but they were bullshitting by claiming they’ll be more sports like. That much should be obvious.

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I agree partially. They are definitely way too goofy for my liking. But they are more sports oriented than WWE. The main event picture with Cody and now Mox with Jericho has been real good.

I was being sarcastic. A tournament or two is fine for a few weeks, but all year would just be overkill.
Another way to be more “sport” like is to only have one matches every 6 months or so. Like mma and boxing. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Yes but they could have easily built the win loss records into qualifying for some big tournament at the end of the year or something. They still might for all we know. With the 3 different divisions you could easily hold 3 different tournaments through the year to determine the number one contender for a big show.

I’m with AOP. The problem is there is no single person in charge resulting in a schizophrenic show where most of the VPs (Brandy, Kenny Olivier and, to a lesser extent, The Young Bucks) indulge not only their cringeworthy ideas (to pander to their sycophant hard core fans rather than trying to attract a wider audience) but their little indy friends they have managed to convince Tony to hire.

I doubt AOP is expecting no angles or storylines but rather was expecting something closer to Mid-South/JCP/NWA/1988-1994 WCW booking as was I. Not some dick standing in the ring tapping someone with his foot which, even if somehow you found that entertaining at one point, surely must have grown old?

I really want AEW to succeed as WWE (including NXT) does very little for me. AEW has the potential if they can sort themselves out but until they do I think I’m done with them and the only promotion getting my eyeballs is NWA Powerrr.

And ffs AEW tag teams, learn to tag correctly. It is not hard and it is just another example of lazy work which makes a mockery of the sports based claim (sports have rules) and puts the referees in a position where they have to ignore the blatant illegal tag, thus diminishing their credibility, just so a “performer” can do some unnecessary “spot”.

So apparently Charlotte is going to be challenging Rhea Ripley with her Rumble win. Not sure how I feel about that.

I mean that is a Rumor. I’m not sure either, I like the idea of that match (assuming Rhea goes to Mania with the title), but it means the women’s title is off of the Takeover Mania weekend. I don’t want a bunch of NXT stuff to be on Mania (unless there is no Takeover) as it depletes takeover. One match, especially the women’s title as it usually isn’t the headline match for takeover, is probably ok.

That said my problem is I don’t see Charlotte coming back to NXT (don’t want that to happen really) and so it makes the outcome have 2 choices. Either Rhea wins (which is good but predictable to an extent) or the finish isn’t clean which would be awful. Charlotte coming down to NXT long term seems terrible.

It would also seem strange because does that mean they are going to have 3 women’s matches on the card? That seems like a lot for Mania. I cannot imagine Becky not having a match, so is Bayley (or the SD champ) out?

One possibility I just thought of what if Charlotte challenges all 3 champs and they do a unification fatal 4 way? Not sure it is the best idea, but the women’s division would be better with fewer titles and cross over programs due to roster depth on the main roster. My preference would be Main roster and NXT each having one champ, but I could see them doing 1 women’s champ and the tag champs.

Or they could do Charlotte 3 belts “groan”

If they’re going that route, at least you can justify it with Charlotte because she has “done it all” already. And, let’s be honest, who wants to see Charlotte/Becky or Charlotte/Bayley at Wrestlemania?

My biggest knock (before we see if/how it plays out) is that there are a lot of talented NXT women who could be in that spot at Takeover and/or Mania.

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The thing I dont really like about it is that the winner of the Rumble is supposed to challenge a title holder at Wrestlemania. I cant see Charlotte winning the rumble and then wrestling at a Takeover. Plus, she POINTED TO THE SIGN, so I think whatever match she has will be at Mania.

Ugh. I hate that idea but I can see WWE doing something like that.

The other thing is after this weekend’s dull match against Storm - you have to wonder if Ripley is ready for Mania. I also question where this leaves Baszler who seems completely out of the picture now.

Yeah a 4 way champions match would leave out Shayna (unless she comes up earlier and dethrones Bayley or something). As for Rhea, I think she would be Ok in Mania, her match with Shayna was great, she was great in Wargames and Survivor Series. I think in a match against Charlotte she would do well if only because Charlotte is that good.

I’m not a big fan of multi-person matches in general, but if they actually unify the titles I would be ok with it. I just cannot see them putting 3 women’s matches on Mania, or 4 with the tag titles. I guess if they didn’t do the tag titles and dropped the battle Royal then 3 championship matches with 1 on the pre-show would work though.

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I’m gonna go out on a limb and say…I told you so :roll_eyes: when it comes to WWE pushing main stars over to NXT to help beef up the brand and compete in the ratings. Balor…then Survivor Series invasion…now the Queen of the Women’s division will do some appearances. Ya know, that’s gonna really make the Takeover Tampa program for Rhea’s title non-existent (literally and/or figuratively). It’s not a bad thing, but I remember that first Balor appearance when I called in to the Cafe and felt that they were building an unsustainable version of NXT that would quickly change now that they had ratings to worry about. SO many women in that division and they are going to hold up the entire division to bring Charlotte in. Which is just a shame given it is the hottest division in Wrestling right now. But hey, maybe they can get creative with the Takeover match.

That is not to say I’m not all for Rhea and Charlotte. SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than anything with Bayley. At the same time, they way they built Bianca and had her square off with Flair I could see that becoming a program if Belair takes the title OR a 3 way to get another future breakout star into the mix.

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Well I mean that is the traditional way of getting your new stars over. So having NXT talent beat established talent is something that helps NXT. As for the NXT division, they could still have defenses on TV. I mean Rhea is a star, but almost any of the NXT women vs Charlotte at Mania would be the best women’s match on the show.

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We’ll see if Charlotte even makes a difference though. I’m not sure she’s much of a draw. She’s almost in the Reigns category of people being annoyed that she’s being pushed down everyone’s throat.

But I’m sure we’re going to get announcements of “The Queen” is on NXT tonight, blah blah.

I just don’t really understand why Charlotte would want to do it. Makes no sense from her as a character. She’s already won the NXT womens title and why would she want to appear on NXT as opposed to Raw or SD.

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Agree with you @Breng77 100%…I’m just looking at it saying, doesn’t that hinder the rest of the roster because instead of bringing somebody up you are sending somebody to NXT
Traditionally you would introduce a new talent on RAW or SD to achieve this. Now you send an established star to NXT which only hinders the devlopment and focus of your already very crowded roster there.

SO TRUE

I actually feel opposite of this. It makes total sense because she recognizes the best competition is in NXT and it does give focus to the whole division even if she is only facing one person. If this turns into her suggesting NXT has way better talent or a better champion than Becky or Bayley - at least they did the right thing in beating those two with the previous NXT champ, and it could spark future issues later on if Becky/Bayley get offended (wait, never mind, that’s actual story telling)

It begs the question why does NXT have the best competition? Why didn’t Charlotte just enter that battle royal they had on TV last week if she wants a shot at the title? Why go through all the effort of the Royal Rumble?

If she says she’s going there because NXT has better competition then I guess I’m ok with that. But I just dont see them scripting her to actually say that.

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lol, well…again:

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I mean she is on RAW so she cannot just show up on NXT and enter their battle Royal. The Rumble has established the ability to choose any champion. It also gives the Mania match not Takeover Portland.

I mean establishing NXT having the best women’s division has already happened. Their women won survivor series, and Shayna won the champions 3 way. The woman that beat the “champion of champions” and won suvivor series seems like a good opponent for someone wanting to prove that they are best of the best. They also had Rhea pin Charlotte in the lead up to Survivor Series.

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Her challenging Rhea is the best thing ever.

Does anyone want to see her vs Becky again? Or her vs Bayley again?

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Yeah, don’t get my point about NXT twisted. I’m 100% in favor of Rhea v. Charlotte and even more in favor of Rhea v. Charlotte with Belair somehow looped in to create another star in this match.

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I’m less for the 3 way as I’m not sure it works as well to create stars. I guess it gets both Exposure at Mania, but 1 on 1 matches always make the biggest impact. I mean Flair losing because Rhea Pins Bianca isn’t the same. Or Bianca pinning Rhea after Flair does the damage etc.