He just hasn’t been used right. He was supposed to be the dragon for Reigns to slay but then they changed their mind and gave the title to Seth and it’s really been a mess ever since.
I like the brand split, because I think it makes them more disciplined rather than having the same 5 guys on every show. That said people should be able to move if WWE has a good program they want to do. Like have your Staple big names on each show, but if there are other guys that don’t have a story going or need fresh match-ups move them around. Essentially if people are in a storyline keep them to one show. Once that ends let them move on to something else as needed. So Roman shouldn’t show up on all 3 shows but once his Corbin storyline is over on Smackdown I would be fine with one or both moving elsewhere to do something important rather than continuously ramming them together because you have nothing else. It would help them across the board.
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Well I mean Reigns did Slay him then had to abdicate due to cancer. But they beat that story into the ground before it happened. Then screwed up the story with Seth at Mania, then used him to murder Kofi in a terrible moment. He killed Strowman as a cool monster in an Awful match. Most of what people consider Brocks good matches have been utterly meaningless matches, except maybe the second Seth match, but that was a fix after the terrible booking at Mania. So sure some of it is booking, but if you believe Moxley some of it is Lesner.
I’m talking Mania in SF when Rollins cashed in. That never should have happened that way. It ruined Reigns and the title IMO.
I like Brock in the ring - he’s had good matches with Bryan, Balor and Styles. The short matches with Rollins and Goldberg were also fun.
They just never seem to decide who they want to go strong with and end up just going back to Brock for whatever reason.
Like I said his good matches are short or meaningless. Bryan and Styles were Survivor Series not a title match. Balor was a title match but Balor was never winning. He has had way more sub par or uninteresting title matches and ruined several superstars with that kind of booking.
They never want people to beat Brock clean (or he doesn’t want that.). Name a great Brock match where he lost? The Second Rollins match maybe? Seth Low blowing him at Mania was awful and it killed Seth.
HHH match wasn’t bad when he lost
It comes down to what Vince wants, I dont think Brock gives a fuck about winning or losing. Vince can just never make his mind up about who he wants his top guy to be.
Brock’s first match back against Cena where he lost (also made no sense) was amazing.
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So 7 years ago?
Well the guy is rarely booked to lose, again that’s not his call it is Vince.
So 8 years ago. I’m talking the last say 3-4 years with Brock as champion. He has great matches in his history but not many that mattered that he lost in recent history.
I’m not convinced Brock has no say in whether he wins or loses. And Vince certainly doesn’t wrestle the matches when they aren’t good. There are stories about Brock being difficult to deal with and I imagine he has a ton of control over his booking.
I think as crazy as it sounds Brock to AEW for a short run helps both.
Brock is stale in WWE. They don’t really want him - they just don’t want UFC to have him. He kills the division and really isn’t that huge a draw now that we know Seth can beat him. He makes it hard to book around since he’s never there and limited in ring and the crowd largely doesn’t care about him like the used to.
If he went to AEW for a year it would open up the division and let you build stars for when he came back a bit more fresh with more credible challengers
For AEW it would give them a guy with mainstream appeal that their fan base would truly hate. Not a cool Jericho heel but a real “we hate this guy” heel. Like I outlined you can work in Omega and Cody and let Cody into the title picture and Omega get the big win at the end. Hopefully some casual fans have tuned it and you have more mainstream attention. Also the angle of a guy only wanting to fight ex WWE or MMA guys would work well to increase hate and really rally for the big wins especially with Omega winning.
Now Brock goes back and he can say on WWE he only wants to the best, he tried the rest etc. It’s fresh and AEW has moved on with hopefully more fans.
As crazy as it is - it may work for both sides
I think either Lesner is the problem, or he isn’t difficult to book around. Just don’t give him the title. So either they are doing it to themselves or he demands the title if he is in the company. If the later it isn’t great for AEW.
He could be good for AEW or he could be awful for them. I’m not sure for his price tag he is worth the risk.
I dont disagree with any of that but you’re forgetting about Vince - he loves Lesnar.
I just dont see Vince letting Lesnar going anywhere. If he can outbid or convince Brock to stay with WWE over UFC then doing the same over AEW wouldnt be hard. And with Heyman as a powerful person in WWE now it gives Brock more reason to stay.
Lesner’s involvement in AEW could be good and bad. He is a product of the WWE system, he wasn’t an indie but his time in UFC really helps to reinforce AEW’s pledge to be more sport-centric. The problem with that is that they have stepped back from presenting AEW as a sport. Week after week I feel they are moving more into the the WCW / WWE Sports Entertainment area rather than Rasslin’ that they said they would. Aside from prominently displaying records, I’d feel that NWA and NXT are doing a better job making it feel like a merit based, sports-centric product.
I expected AEW to sit somewhere in the middle of NJPW and WWE in terms of presentation but of late I think they are too damn close to WWE in presentation and to me there is a need to course correct before it is just WWE Jr. Or the second coming of WCW (Russo-Era).
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I don’t think AEW ever intended to be a sports based alternative. The just said things people wanted to hear and they never got pulled up on it. Sports based alternative (which they never wanted to be), equal pay for women (which doesn’t make sense as contracts in entertainment are done on a talent by talent basis and you can’t promise parity amongst everyone but it’s a great thing to say), healthcare for everyone (which has completely been forgotten).
The healthcare thing was a misleading statement. All their full time people have healthcare. But a great deal of their talent isn’t full time.
Maybe they didn’t intend on it, but it isn’t a good way to create a loyal fanbase by saying one thing and doing another. I remember their press-conferences they said it would be a more sport-centric alternative and all they’ve really done is track wins and losses.
This helps justify feuds / programs between talent but they at times will just ignore it and say “well here is a #1 contenders match” if it was sports-based talent with a larger record wouldn’t need to prove themselves against people with lesser records, or people they’ve already pinned. I know it is their way to shine people up but they are doing it a lot lately.
I know some of it is just reactive booking but it really needs to be refined. If this is their trajectory, that’s cool I may tune out because it wasn’t what I expected and I don’t expect them to change just for me, I will just stick to NJPW that I find more to my tastes.
I had high hopes I guess, and I don’t mind entertainment sprinked in especially with some of the talent they have. Cody breaking the glass w/ MJF’s scarf and the battle that ensued was excellent but it is hard to keep that going for every program, and then you are just a hop skip and a jump from Cuckold angles, a Judy Bagwell on a pole match or a wedding angle with a shoehorned lesbian tilt.
I think the issue with using NJPW as a measuring stick is that you are comparing a weekly TV show to something that is not a weekly TV show. I think the closest you can get is something like NXT. Which is what I was hoping for NXT without the scripted promos and bigger name talent. Right now if feels pretty close to the first 2 hours of Raw, which isn’t bad recently.
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I see your point, I am not suggesting work rate be the same more just how it is presented. In-ring promo’s are cool but I am a fan of the vignettes to tell a story. They have a great social media and YT presence which would make it easy to build stories with well produced vignettes. The ‘Road To’ videos they released before Dynamite to build PPV’s were amazing.
They made me feel so connected to the talent and made me care about the outcome of the match. They did an amazing job doing that mix that in with Cody’s “Undesirable to Undeniable” segments that did more to help me understand a person than any in-ring promo did (I understand that those segments were non-kayfabe but my point remains, I still connected with them because of it)
Don’t get me wrong - Still love in-ring promo’s but they really only benefit those who can adlib or improv (e.g., Jericho, Moxley, Cody, etc.) and not all talent have it them to do it either because of a language barrier…or lack of ability.
Vignettes could really help talent like Riho get over with the crowd and really show her motivations and drive the point.
healthcare for employees, which as noted by Kahn, many talent have backstage and company roles which do make them eligible for healthcare. I have this on good background. Not made up. No company ever would give part-time work healthcare.
Though I would like them to offer buy-in which would enable their talent who are not deemed employees to buy in to a healthcare plan that may be better than a public option. Also there are other subsidies they can give employees to help them which is something I’ve pitched to them and just hasnt been the right time.