I’m starting a “Being the Elite” discussion thread. I appreciate the storytelling and the little details that are being created within each episode. The latest episode was awesome. NOLA is going to be insane with the announcement of the Kenny vs Cody match , at the ROH show, during Wrestlemania weekend.
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Thanks for starting this! I wanted to but since I’m choosing BTE as my Rewind a Wai I didn’t want to seem too over the top about the show. Frankly I love it and find it to be the most fascinating thing done in Wresting in years. Consider how many major storylines play out in this show. Cole, Super Card match reveal, it’s pretty great. Very innovative and they are getting hundred thousand viewers with ease. I think the ep after New Beginning did nearly 250k!
This is the best story telling in my opinion and it’s cool both NJPW and ROH endorse it and allow them to play out stories like this. Lot of trust going on
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I’m stoked that you chose “Being the Elite” for your Rewind-a-Wai show. It didn’t even cross my mind. The last two BTE episodes were on point. Marty’s solo rendition of Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” was awesome. It took me a minute to figure out the song that he was singing. Chico combing and blow drying his Lucha mask was hilarious. Btw, the only thing missing from the show was Cody racing a nerd down the mountain, in order to gain ownership of the ski lodge.
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Someone on YouTube pointed out the great subtlety of Matt switching his shirts between Kenny’s and Cody’s in between cuts as he was talking to his wife. They’ve made the experience of being fans of theirs so engrossing and interactive that it feels like they’re pop music stars with an accompanying TV show rather than wrestlers.
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The random “Easter Eggs” in each episode is amazing. The Bucks was in Room 710. Which is a play on the bowling term, a “7-10 Split”. Add on to the fact that they’re using the BTE episodes to further the pro wrestling storylines.
I wish the WWE would have this kind of a creative thought-process. Ending “Talking Smack” was a bad idea and was way too short-sighted.
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I don’t think a show like this just would be possible under that system. This is a group of friends coming up with ideas, shooting and editing themselves on the spot before directly releasing to their audience on YouTube. A WWE production goes through multiple stages of approval before they can even shoot. You’d probably have to convince Vince an idea like “Room 710” is funny before it makes it through.
Even something like Fashion Files, which is some of the most leeway I’ve seen them give performers to create lately, feels like it wasn’t able to reach its potential due to outside factors (poor writing, opponents being changed, inconsistent airings).
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Yes, I totally agree. I think Zack Ryder’s YouTube show was the closest we got to being somewhat similar. This is the reason why “Talking Smack” was awesome. The show allowed wrestlers like Baron Corbin and Apollo Cruz to break out of their shells and show some kind of an identity. The show actually made me care about Baron Corbin!!
Although the Miz was slowly getting to the next level, from a character standpoint, his segment with Bryan sky-rocketed his persona to a whole new level.
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The split is interesting because there is what I’d argue is the most logical narrative way to go and the more logical logistical way to go.
Narratively Cody should take over the BC and lead Page, Chase Owens, Yujiro, Fale, G.o.D and maybe add a guy or two
Bucks and Scurll should side with Omega and basically they’d be The Elite with Kota sort of being Elite as well
Logistically though: Cody, Scurll, Page and The Bucks are all ROH guys… It probably makes more sense for them to form the Elite/BC and Omega just to break off with Ibushi on his own… because it’d be hard for Omega to maintain a stable where almost all its members are part part part timers… but I really don’t think it makes sense for Bucks/Scurll, and especially the Bucks to turn on Omega narratively, nor do I think they hve anywhere near the same chemistry with Cody that they have with Omega.
Third option though is Omega and Ibushi as The Golden Lovers on their own, Cody, Page, Scurll and the Bucks as The Elite and Tama Tonga takes over (ad he’s hinted at this in his promos recently) the lead of the BC… here they’d have to add people though because losing Omega, Cody Bucks, Scurll is a huge blow to their credibility.
Gonna be a fascinating few months to see where the chips fall
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“Barry the Bear fell on his fookin ass.” The little Joey Ryan cameos are hilarious. The Cody Rhodes/Dennis Reynolds from “Always Sunny”, comparison, is so on point.
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This episode completely opened a storyline direction that I had not considered even for second before now:
A Bucks split
With Cody suggesting Nick should go singles in yesterday’s ep we could see a Bucks split causing basically 2 Elites:
Cody, Nick Jackson, Page and Kenny, Matt Jackson, Marty Scurll
This would be the narrative reason for keeping both Cody and Kenny on the show. You’d basically run a story saying that Matt and Nick co-own the show thus both of their Elite brands are to be given time.
This turn would happen at Supercard and would be done with either Nick turning on Kenny during the match (and helping Cody win) or after the match (if they want Kenny to win) and it making it look like The Bucks have sided with Cody, then Nick superkicks Matt and it becomes clear Nick turned on Kenny all on his own, then Nick and Cody and Page take out Scurll.
End game here would be Matt Jackson vs Nick Jackson at All In… which is in this current time a huge fucking match!
The build to that is easy too: Nick is constantly dodging Matt, tags out in tags and 6 mans asap when Matt gets in, throughout the spring and summer. If NJPW is game they’re in the G1 in opposite blocks, and if NJPW is really game Nick makes the finals and Matt on the last day just needs one win (or maybe even just a draw) to get in and finally get his match with his brother but he comes up short… maybe it’s against Cody (who’d be already eliminated mathematically but is playing spoiler for Matt) but could be anyone. Then G1 ends and we go to All In where they finally faceoff.
The pieces of a split have been there really: The Bucks have lost two titles in like 6 weeks because of Matt, Matt has been the “weak” link since the back injury exactly like Cody said. Plus The Bucks have kinda done all they can do in tag wrestling why not run with this and get back together in 2019.
Now all that said of course what the tease could end up being is the the moment that causes The Bucks chose to stay with Kenny because Kenny would never try to turn Nick against Matt or Matt against Nick
Could go either way but that little moment is fucking huge imo.
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I was showing somebody the last few weeks worth of BTE and we’ve got payoffs for Matt’s visions…Bury the Bear (“Bullet Club has jumped the shark” lol)…All In location…Joey Ryan’s piss jug…Joey Ryan the Penis Pretender…and now “where do you think you’re going” has now led to a team of Flip and the Bucks
This show constantly pays off what it introduces. It built a feud between Joey and Hangman without them ever touching. It’s launched Merch. And it’s set up and provided fuel for Dream matches.
(I don’t want to be a sucker and say Punk will be on All In because, well, it’s in Chicago and he’s not in WWE. But really, logically, introducing a drug free jingle and schtick - esp when Cody is always shown drinking - feels like precisely the thing that would be paid off with the best known Straight Edge wrestler CM Punk.)
I think there’s a possibility that they turn on Kenny. But as for a Bucks’ split, it might be a while before it happens. The Bucks are wrestling the Golden Lovers in Long Beach. And they just moved up to heavyweight in NJPW.
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BAR Wrestling is such a great venue. I’ve never been, but Joey Ryan books awesome matches for the cards. They had McCauley Culkin during Christmas, Candice Lerae’s last Indy match, Joey Ryan had a match with Ellsworth, and now the Elite angle. Not a fan of crowds and tight spaces, but it would be cool to catch a show.
Worth noting the Long Beach show is before Supercard so the theoretical breakup would be after they get in their Bucks vs Golden Lovers match.
I don’t actually think the Bucks will break up but it’s gone from a zero percent chance to something more than a zero percent chance after this week’s episode… and I just love fantasy booking XD
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I go back to the idea that whatever we are seeing teased in BTE will play out with a true payoff. Whether that’s the Bucks turning on Cody because they catch on to what he’s doing or an actual split, it will go somewhere.
for practical purposes I do not see these guys splitting up because together they are a hot act traveling the entire world (geeeez they went to Australia twice this year and it’s not even April!) I think there is way too much money in them being a team for promotions around the world and outside of facing each other it’s hard to imagine the same interest being there for them as singles. People want to see the band play the greatest hits and while those who get to see them all the time could stand to have something more (ROH fans) I doubt they are getting booked worldwide if they aren’t hitting their greatest hits together.
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Any lineup predictions for “All In”? I can see the Bucks going against former WWE wrestlers. For example, Rey Mysterio and Alberto Patron. My only prediction is that CM Punk is going to be revealed under the “Drug-Free Bear” costume.
So honestly I thought they’d do Kenny and Cody at All In. Then thought they’d do Golden Lovers and Bucks at All In. And they blew my mind by announcing those as happening well before.
Cody has been adamant everywhere he’s spoke about it (SI, Rolling Stone) that he’s had the main card laid out. This isn’t small potatoes media and the money they need to lay out is probably more than I’d initially have guessed.
I now have to believe that it’s Punk vs either Omega (the right choice) or Cody (the main stream choice). @wai0937 was spot on that now the Bear reveal is part of the story. We know Cody is debuting another “Drug Free” mascot and the tease of that on BTE couldn’t be for nothing. Why keep the gimmick going if not for another purpose? What if it winds up being revealed as Punk who this time attack’s Omega. Punks a guy who’s schedule and contract status is perfectly aligned with All In. He’s fighting in the summer and after probably a 2nd loss he’ll be ready to save face and come back to Wrestling. In a totally Punk way in Chicago, at an Indy, vs the current Best in a match that immediately sells out and dominates the industry.
I think Cody and Marty for the ROH title could be really cool and the storylines in BTE and ROH align. If Punks on the card, AJ vs Brandi?
I have a hard time believing Page and Joey Ryan will not happen before that. It’s too long to keep the story going IMO
One crazy match that I don’t know how it’s possible other than just really good relations between Cody and Hunter is the Rhodes brothers vs the Jackson Brothers. Damn that’d be pretty incredible if Goldust got to have a match with his brother vs the Young Bucks on his Brothers show.
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Sounds like some awesome ideas. Punk vs Omega. I would love to see Tama Tonga vs Cody or Matt Riddle vs Cody. Marty vs Flip Gordon, Page vs Joey Ryan. At this point in his career, I feel Goldust/Dustin Runnels can pretty much get away with anything, when it comes to freedom around the WWE. Pretty much similar to the Big Show.
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Do you think they could hold off on establishing a new BC leader until September? If so, we could see a Tonga vs Cody for BC leadership. In vs Out at All In.
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I wanted to suggest this or GoD vs the Bucks but I feel as if that’s more likes to take place in Tag League
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