That’s one problem I see with AEW. They want to show case way too many people and most matches with enhancement talents take too long. I watch Dark every week.
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You guys are conditioned by Vince and his view on Wrestling. At no time Joey looked like he has a chance. And coming close to it he had to almost kill himself.
No, I am conditioned on sound booking logic. You are conditioned on indy booking where matches go long because there is no long term story being told because they are one date shows and therefore they want value.
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Where did you get conditioned on that? 
I had less issue with the Janella match than the 20 min Cody clean loss. It happened too soon after Archer came into the company. I think the Spears thing from last summer made it even worse. We had a second case of a guy who had a manager built on coming in to beat Cody fall short without enough build up. I worry about Cage for the same reason.
Just curious, do you actually watch any indie wrestling?
IMO that Archer/Janella match was extremely hard to watch. It did feel like I watched a jobber match for 20min, and at no point during the match did Janella make me feel that he had a chance. Finish was cool, but outside of that the match was just so boring.
And please don’t anyone turn this into a WWE vs AEW thing, WWE has plenty of boring matches as well. The difference is when I watch WWE I think I’m pretty good and knowing when that will happen, and just fast forward through.
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Yup. They don’t seem to want to really build anything. MJF’s turn on Cody was rushed. Had they played it out and teased it for three more months they could (with proper booking) have made the audience really want it.
Cage needs to beat Moxley otherwise he’s another dud to add to the pile along with Brodie Lee, Lance Archer and whoever that ROH guy they brought in for one match is.
It depends on what your definition of “indy wrestling” is. I watched some of the Championship Wrestling from “insert name here” programming and a few other random promotions that Fight Network were broadcasting in the UK.
The Cage match makes me mad that it is on TV and that title matches have a 60 min time limit. I think you can tell a story with a time limit draw where Moxley Survives the match as champion but never threatens to really win. But not in a 60 min match and I don’t see them going that long on TV. Especially with the FTW belt on Cage right now. It would make him feel like the uncrowned champion. Just feels too rushed and that yeah they have done it with a bunch of new talent where they have come in, immediately had a title program and lost. It has left Moxley with a sub par reign IMO because there hasn’t been a long built feud for him.
AEW aren’t good at developing a hierarchy. This idea that everyone’s on a similar level means no one’s a star. They seem to be more concerned with underneath talent not being seen as jokes than they are about making the featured wrestlers feel like big deals.
Dragging Jericho down for someone they’re not gonna immediately follow up on (something they’ve done more than once. Scorpio Sky really used that rub…). Same with Cody. Omega has felt like a midcarder since the show started and Moxley has always been meh.
Then you have their booking of supposed monster heels. Botched Nyla Rose straight away for Riho (who was a disaster). Lanch Archer became a joke quick. Brodie Lee went from “he’d be a great, budget Bray Wyatt” to “funny Vince parody” to “who cares”. And now Brian Cage is set to fall at the first hurdle against Moxley (if not then giving him the FTW title would be dumber than it already is).
All that and then throw wacky Matt Hardy in there. “So much better booking than WWE”… Nah.
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I mean I think it is better than WWE, but far from perfect. At least AEW has me caring about some matches.
I think you’ve been brainwashed by WWE 50-50 booking.
AEW has built up a number of big heels but then let a babyface go over them. Then that heel transitions onto a different program. It’s a great way to establish guys and keep champions strong
I would argue they haven’t really built up “big heels”. They have built guys up to be fed to baby face champions but I don’t think Moxley feels any stronger having beaten Brody Lee in his first month with the company before he had time to grow, I don’t think Cody feels any stronger having Beaten archer. The runs prior to them getting a championship match weren’t long enough. Same with Cage. I think part of it is being a company with basically no history stuck in a pandemic, but it does feel like they are just bringing in new guys and shooting them to the top, to lose and settle into the midcard.
I mean let’s look at Archer, he has beaten no one of note his best win is against Dustin in 20 mins.
Brodie Lee prior to his title match his biggest win (and still is) was over Christopher Daniels.
Brian Cage - biggest win was the ladder match, which wasn’t over any top singles guys really. Other than that his wins are over a gallery of nobodies.
For me Cage hasn’t been built up so big that Moxley feels like a bigger deal having beaten him, and so it feels to early for him to lose. That said I have no idea who else you put in there. I mean MJF has the best claim, but that just feels like a loss for MJF. We’re I AEW I would pull a Clubber Lang with Cage and have him obliterate Mox, then you can tell the comeback story.
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Everyone here that criticises AEW, also criticises WWE. Your “brainwashed” claim holds no water.
“Brainwashed” is the word I’d use to describe the people that actually refuse to criticise a promotion’s poor booking of a lot of wrestlers because they want to chant three letters. North Korea type brainwashing there.
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Which big heels do you feel AEW has done a good job of building up?
Personally I like the idea of building up and then cooling off heels. It’s hard to keep guys hot forever and it helps keep guys less stale.
It’s almost like the old territories way of booking which I enjoy. Build a hot new heel every month for the baby face to over come. They did it with Moxley and Cobb, Lee and now Cage.
Personally I would have put Archer over Cody but I don’t think he was all that damaged by losing. But it depends what they have for him next.
Cage and Archer definitely. I think Lee was decently built but I’m just not a fan of the Dark Order gimmick.
And like I mentioned before, I would have had Archer go over Cody because he’s been a little lost since that match
Agreed with the Archer thing, I think he should have gone over Cody as well. If they were dead set on having Cody win, I don’t think they should have put Archer in the tournament.
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Cobb I had no issue with because he wasn’t on the roster. The others just haven’t beaten anyone of note and as such weren’t heated up enough before the cool off (assuming Cage loses). I almost feel like AEW is too strong on the Babyface side, they are the anti-wwe in that way. They have a bunch of top baby faces but I feel other than Jericho and maybe MJF there is not one heel I think has a legitimate shot at winning a title program right now. That is why I want Cage to win. It sends the message that sometimes these guys we bring in and build up really quickly do go over, then the next time you do it I will buy in. As it stands right now I have limited interest in the matches because I feel the outcome is obvious. When I look at a lot of title matches in AEW it just seems obvious who will win and who will lose. I’m trying to think back to the last title program I wasn’t sure about. Maybe Shida winning over Nyla, and before that maybe Moxley winning over Jericho. I also think there is a problem in AEW right now having all baby face champions.